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Writer's pictureMarías at Sampaguitas

2 Poems by Andrew Shields


Late For A Very Important

Once again it's later than

I wanted it to be. There's no

hot water in the house, and I

hate to wash my hands with cold.

I'll have to go with dirty fingers

to talk with the glasses of wine

and drink with the mingling words.

I'll stand at the buffet and take

none of the chips and dip. I hope

the finger food includes toothpicked cheeses—always gone early,

so I don't want to be late.



Grasshopper

The grasshopper came back to drink its fill,

but the bottle was closed.

Atop the cap it stood quite still,

as if striking a pose,


stuck in the still damp trace

of wine left on the top

by hands that spilled some in their haste

to drink and drink and never stop.


And when the trace of wine was dry,

the grasshopper was gone,

the bottle was empty, and nobody's eye

could bear the light of dawn.




Andrew Shields lives in Basel, Switzerland. His collection of poems "Thomas Hardy Listens to Louis Armstrong" was published by Eyewear in 2015. His band Human Shields released the album "Somebody's Hometown" in 2015 and the EP "Défense de jouer" in 2016.

Twitter: @ShieldsAndrew


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