Of Kings and Dentists
Lisa Kelly

Conventional how I marvel at your beauty: O
I am a servant to your little o. Too futuristic –
a winged chariot, but why
at such and such an hour I may write to you my dear
of a buck killed late last night by my own hand, hoping
that when you eat of it you may think of the hunter.
Let me inside your caged space. Sweetheart,
your brother whom I value for his head,
cannot replace your heart. My heart is at Hever. O
agony. I heave in agony. I shall kill a hart.

Illegal how I marvel at your majesty: O
I am a stalker of your black mane. Too futuristic –
a flight to Minnesota, but why
at such and such an hour I may write to your my dear
of a dentist killed late last night by my own hand, hoping
that when you eat of it you may think of the hunter.
Let me inside your caged space. Lionheart,
your teeth which I value inside your head,
cannot replace my heart. My heart is in hiding. O
agony. I heave in agony. I shall kill a practice.

Note: This poem uses some lines from Henry VIII's letters to Anne Boleyn.

Lisa Kelly is a freelance journalist living in North London. Her pamphlet, Bloodhound, is published by Hearing Eye. She regularly hosts poetry evenings at the Torriano Meeting House in London and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Lancaster. Her poems have most recently been published in Ambit, Magma and South Bank Poetry.

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