Broken Windows
Pink smiles sketched into naked flesh,
self consciously massaged in lamp light.
A night as haunted as a house of broken windows –
she asks me to go buy more wine.
I say yeah okay and start to get dressed. Never having liked wine very much at all.

Knock, Knock
Nothing tastes sweeter
than that last mouthful of whiskey
after fifteen days sober
with a black eye, a broken molar &
a Jehovah’s Witness tapping at the door.

Backpacker
She showed me the blisters
on the heels of her feet.
Told me she swam in the river Ganges.
I asked her if that was the river of the dead?
She grinned, drank from my bottle & said
she hoped so, otherwise
what would have been the fucking point?

Stephen J. Golds was born in the U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his adult life. He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, traveling, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs. Glamour Girl Gone, his debut novel, will be released by Close to The Bone Press on January 29th, 2021. Follow him on Twitter @SteveGone58.