Peoples Stuff For Sale by Drew Milne
capital is dead labour
on barren soils cloven
for shopping pavements
in to wattled stepping
to deter a wheel chair
as if a movie of death
were situationism lite
under the sidewalks of
a hipster charity lane
upcycling ethos as art
and pathos for mustard
by the artisan brewery
denims and trust funds
washed down after toil
but stuff is not stuff
that alteration frames
for the consuming eyes
even as slipped vowels
come to market accents
so peoples in on dying
fall like matter scars
tissue as living manna
for lecanora esculenta
or stuff of the kinder
who cannot be sold but
who will buy my stolen
roses, my lock of torn
lichens, my sung gripe
let off the city floor
Drew Milne’s collected poems, In Darkest Capital, are forthcoming from Carcanet. @GlamFuzz
Illustration by Dan Williams
For our Storytelling issue, we conducted something of an experiment. We asked our online readers to suggest potential cover images by choosing from the site of our partner, Stocksy. The brief? Find a picture that could inspire a story. We then asked our Twitter followers and the writers of Visual Verse to respond. Featured above is Drew Milne’s story.