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.

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

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