4HL

Kurt Van Ristell

You can make a living
Doing anything.

May day. The ocean tugs like a magnet,
Black and ice
Cold below the wax of butter,
Churning foam. The sun:
A ball of gas and molten dispassion.

It pulls seashells into stretched
Taffy shadows at set
And daubs gulls, snowblind
White streaks against a cloudless
Summer sky.

The drive home from Brighton
Passes in silence.
Bank holiday. A twenty-four
Hour reprieve from the four
Hour life.

You can make a living
Doing anything
I tell myself.

Kurt Van Ristell is a Bengali/British poet, artist and author living in South London. He works in education, in Lambeth, which is a storyteller’s boon. He writes poetry and novels and digitally paints—largely because travel is simply so expensive. His poems have appeared across publications such as Bandit Fiction, Sledgehammer Lit, New Note Poetry, Post Script Magazine, and Void Space Zine.