Bio: Matt Gilbert is a freelance copywriter, who also writes a blog at richlyevocative.net. 

Originally from Bristol, England, he currently gets his fill of urban hills in South East London. He has had poems published in various places including Acumen, Atrium and The Storms. His debut collection ‘Street Sailing’ is out now with Black Bough Poetry.

The midges in the woods

Took me half a life to realise,
bears were not the real danger 
in the woods. Or not the worst.

For all their sudden rearing, 
they do present a choice: yell 
and fight or scream and run. 

It’s the midges I can’t handle. 
Their nagging presence, a dense 
and personal cloud of angst. 

A fluid murmuration of doubt, 
flickering about my head, forever, 
on the inside and never out. 

Big Tent Politics

No one sang, send in the liars, send in the mean, no show runner nodded on…