Paul Jeffcutt

Reading the Brochure of Farrow & Ball, I Update their range of Colours

Smoked Trout
Blazer
Oxford Stone
Dog End
Croquet
Payday Loan

Pale Hound
Thoroughbred
Rectory Green
Food Bank
Forelock
Bended Knee

White Tie
Tiffin
Elephant’s Back
Rent Arrears
Heirloom
Bailiff’s Knock

Satin Slipper
Soirée
Pied à Terre
Cold Shoulder
Ebony
Workhouse Door

Ways to Kill a President *

Sniper
Grenade
Car Bomb
Exploding Lectern
Lethal Milkshake
Infected Diving Suit
Cyanide Cocktail
Poisoned Shoes

Femme Fatale
Toxic Fountain Pen
Infected Aerosol
Arsenic Ice-Cream
Exploding Cigar
Old Age

* After Executive Action: 634 Ways to Kill Castro by Fabian Escalante,
in which the ex-head of the Cuban Secret Service details the many attempts
the CIA made to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Chuan-pu *

Li Liangwei blusters
in sharp suit and red tie
flanked by black-shaded
black-suited bodyguards,
snips the shiny ribbon
of a hotel in Shenzhen
reciting poetry
by Mao Zedong.

Li mimics his lookalike
from satellite TV news,
his agent tells him to blink
and flap his hands more.
Li does not use Twitter.

‘The sky is high
the clouds are light
wild geese flying south
are out of sight.’

* The nickname for Donald Trump in China

Paul Jeffcutt grew up in rural Gloucestershire, and was the first member of his extended family to remain at school beyond the age of 16. He always wrote poems in his spare time, but never showed them to anyone. Eventually, he plucked up the courage to enter a competition. He’s now won thirty-three awards for poetry in competitions in Ireland, the UK and the USA. He has two full collections of poetry: The Skylark’s Call (Dempsey & Windle, 2020) and Latch (Lagan Press, 2010). And his poems have been widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Paul has been living in Northern Ireland for the past 25 years. Website: www.pauljeffcutt.net

Paul Jeffcutt

Reading the Brochure of Farrow & Ball, I Update their range of Colours

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