2 poems by Ian Macartney

I want it all Even if it’s fake

I want it all Even if it’s fake

since i got some good there
I’ll talk about the bad as well

i always think about the forest when high
Year and a half in the forest No wi-fi
No mirror Better reflection Connection
Found a better version accepting all voices
Ran through a city Glitter in the sheets
Pills and potions Terrible things Pink diamond
in the dark Tiny bag Bigger heart You’re not
a ghost switching sides that could have fallen
For how does new meaning get hot New meaning
without holy matrimony I think we took
some sleeping pills Distant to inseparable
even if we fall Split 2 ways when the roof caved
and the water fell through Juicy Just like clementines
We pulled out the tangerine Bounced her Never slept
Closed myself in new ways All silence resonates
Switch your faith I'm distant You might help me
I'll admit i'm scared You could cut deeper
I just wanna go real hard for gays White sheets
so divine when the sun showed I only threw
this party for you 5 in the glue Dive to the blue
Scared to lose So calm on the surface Liquid
in my hands In my mouth Did we melt the walls
I love you bad like 1000 pink balloons 1
rose on the grave Champagne pouring Your mouth
a party bag with purple pills I am waiting
for you by the window I am online Love suicide
Slip and slide I’m not shy I want anthems
Existential and so strange Let’s ride Watch the ice
melt in my fist Am i smoke Am i the sun
who decides to not think about consequences
You guide me through this dark century of tears
Sadness my only smile First they send the wraith
Everlasting pain weighing on my body
Pride swallows me Screaming at angels The things
we break when missing politicians I just wanna
break glass Cut off the lights Get visions Levels
Quiet No discussion Hard to read I hate
the silence Do it 1 more time Justified
Say you want me Say you're selfish She might pop
but it's whatever She might sell me but what cannot
be bought partly with tears i just wanna believe
I just wanna sin Drop all my morals
Do you ever feel guilt Head on your shoulders
Silhouette dreams No silicone No saline
Demons envious in their all-green So raw
Luring like witnesses Lurking like witnesses
Square it out Yellow tape round her body
Hot-wired bomb Bite that Not ironic Gimme
icy vision That vicious kingdom Like architecture
i was fucked by nature We made a lot of trees
that are now in a book section No camera
No light Most action flows like water Delicious
tinted windows Kiss me hard in the rain
Candy-coloured eyes like an astronaut
watching the world Cosmic profanity
I’ve been fantasising fake words New worlds
My mausoleum I want it all Even if it’s fake

What is this

What is this

And also water
And water

like butterflies inside a plane to london
Popped ears Hollow phrases Wrong notes
wrote for a single letter Just 1
question What is this beautiful knife
There's no need to wait to be free
and safe I know what it means to untravel
A single living piece of tangle Warm
The storm burying tape back to the start
I gave you the look The embarrassment
Embassy flags flying all-green Pulse
rising Racing and racing and racing but then
racing Someone changed the clock
crying for nobody except the world
What is this A riddle unsolved Fat puddle
locked You're almost like that oystercard
accredited for a script that nobody read
Blurry at the edges Leaving only legend
This is hard God I dare you to shut up
Some kind of reckoning Superb
stomach full of oil and vinegar
Gasoline and a stick of butter
Guns and water The curve of the coast
All silhouettes No regret Hide the sign Leaves grow
when light goes I see the sun rising over the edge
Gone with lilies Bloomed and bent White as teeth
I swim beneath Footsteps in the hall What is this
The morning window The cage starts flirting
4-cornered face coiled in question All the bones
in your body overhead and underfoot
A telephone call Slipping underwater Storm
blooming overhead Hope hiding inside the cliché
The sleepers at the wheel are sticky-shifting
Innocence within an undercover ozone What
is this evident utensil Crystal and clover
What is this i wear for god Is fate’s double knot
up for debate Forget forgiveness Familiar
sleeves Love survives Hollow eyes No angel
infinitely invited In this courtroom
they showed me a fantasy I stole it
Take all my defences with 2 words
to the opposite effect It's a flower in the gun
like the peach you split open with two thumbs
I want more waves crashing on ruins Gold Blue
The rip is a rotation drawing 0 in the sky No answers
in the jury War flows I shift Now What is this

december 3rd, 2020

Ian Macartney is a writer. He has been published in [Untitled] Falkirk, Suma Lima, Meanwhile, Grass, Icarus, The Attic, Re-Analogue, Scoot Around, Leopard Arts, Tenebrae, Little Stone Journal, Ex/Post, unicorn, Seiren, Maudlin House, The Island Review, The Gaudie, The Scotsman, The Guardian, and others. His work has been featured in anthologies like Time and Tide (Arachne Press), The Centenary Collection (Speculative Books) and #UntitledThree (Polygon). He can be found at ianmacartney.scot