Re-edited and republished!

“This is an impressive first collection …. The poems have an easy strength and a directness that is strangely enchanting. Cullen most reminds me of Pablo Neruda not in style but sensibility. An apparent simplicity that is deceptively complex. There’s a lot going on here; love, loss, joy, work, family, trauma and the healing effects of nature. More like a selected poems than a debut, this is a rich, full and adroitly perceptive poetry that shows Cullen to be a quiet, strong and remarkable voice.”

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Absence

Absence

Present absent lost.

He was here there

but parts were absent

lost on an Italian beach

amid 90 per cent casualties.

Locked in a camp

with one water faucet

and 7000 thirsty starving men

waiting for red cross parcels.

He never wore

his campaign medals

or marched

up and down

Saluting cenotaphs

as old soldiers do

at the parades

each year in town.

We lived

with photographs

sealed in a black box

locked under his bed.

Photographs taken

of pre-war days

Serpentine deck chairs

of Regents park.

Hyde Park

Speakers Corner

on Sundays

and those friends

His memories

all gone

now then

and now he’s gone too.

“Absence” First published in “Uncertain Times” ©robcullen

©robcullen fotocredit ©RobCullen