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Estill Pollock’s latest poetry collections, Entropy, Time Signatures and the forthcoming  Ark, are published in the United States by Broadstone Books, and are available through Amazon and Blackwell’s (Oxford) online catalogue.

You can read further long poems by Estill here: January 23, 2022, July 26, 2022 andOctober 25, 2022   

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UNDERTOW

1. Ronnie

I knew a man with HATE
across his knuckles—prison tat: the others, Mom
and a Marines’ banner, globe and eagle
inked across pumped biceps.

We worked night shift flipping burgers
at a dump on the bypass—he chopping cabbage
for the coleslaw while I took
orders at the counter.

The boss said keep him from the cash—
his first job since he got out, so
no point tempting fate.

He called me ‘hippie kid’ and told me
get a haircut—his usual comment
for everything: ’Oh for Christ sake,’ followed by,
‘The…