SELECTED WRITING
by James Quinton

'SHIVER'

dust settles
on dust
as insects
crawl up
my spine

in this
room
there are
gaps
between
the window pane
and frame
the wind
outside
enters as
a draft

I shiver

� James Quinton

Reproduced with permission

---

'MIRROR CRACKS'

words riot
around my
head

akin to
wild horses
charging
across
open land
under a
thundering
sky

there is
madness
in them

they put
themselves in
my mouth
my head
urging me
to speak
them out
loud
and write
them down

they know
how
I think
how
I feel

and even
in
my sleep
they manifest
themselves
trying to
wake
me
they need
an
outlet

the mirror
cracks
as my eyes
fall upon
it

the words
will soon
escape

� James Quinton

Reproduced with permission

---

'SUCKING ON A COMA'

under a
butchered skyline
raped by industry
stuttering and
muttering
hordes
wander
dazed
ignorant

full of bliss

living
in
forgotten towns
bathing
in
litter-strewn
grey streets

lost

pollu
depriva
isola
hiberna

tion, tion, tion, tion

the smell
of a
molten
under class
drifts on
a
chip fat scented
breeze

it
simmers
in the dole
queues
whilst
blinking
to the beat
of the new
urban sound

suc, suc, suc, suc�

sucking on a coma
favoured by
benefits,
scratchcards,
daytime TV

and the
impotence
of
failure

� James Quinton

Reproduced with permission

---

'THE GIRL WITH THE JET BLACK HAIR'

our fucks;
primal
sucking

thrusting

bites

sweat

the
screaming
beats
of our
hearts
just inches
away
from touching

i want you
to drown
in my
cum

but it
swims
in
your
belly

we listen

� James Quinton

Reproduced with permission

---

'FRAGMENTS OF A DAY'

"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star"

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Naked at last, free from the clothing that had been suffocating me all day. I lie on my bed spreading myself out. I am grateful because for a hot sunny day it�s thankfully cool in my bedroom. The sun is going down. My eyelids close watching the shadow of the sun diminishing on my bedroom wall.

*

I awake at sometime between three and four in the morning. I sit up and rub my face, my neck is stiff and I feel at little out of it. I get up and take a piss, then make a cup of tea. With my tea in hand I walk into the living room and flick on the TV, always the best time of day to watch TV, the early hours of the day. There is some non-descript American chat show on, I sigh and watch not listening but just watching. A spider crawls across the floorboards. He stops. He sits in between the TV and me. Staring.

*

I�m standing against the bar in my favourite pub. A girl walks in wearing a tee that says, �Tonight I�m Single�. She approaches the bar and orders a rum and coke.

�Hi.� I say.

�Hi.� She tentatively replies brushing back her blonde hair.

�I see we�ve got something in common.�

�We have,� she replies with a smile working it�s way across her face.

I stare at her chest.

�Oh right.� She replies and laughs. The barman hands her drink. I pull out a five note and pay.

*

In the storeroom I reach up and pull down an outer of Mayfair cigarettes. My boss nods at me as he walks through. He�s going to get another four pack of beer. Or perhaps two four packs of beer. He�s drinking more and more. He looks terrible four days unshaven, four days in the same clothes. I walk back through to the shop and watch him struggling with the cans. A customer approaches the counter. I glance at the clock 2pm. I�ve been here since 5am. Only three hours to go.

�Yes mate, how can I help?�

*

I awake. It�s dark outside. I check the time 9pm. Two more hours before the pub closes. I get up, wash, and change my clothes. I stick a frozen meal in the microwave and set it to incinerate. It takes three minutes to cook. Four minutes to eat. Five minutes after that I�m walking to the pub.

*

�I like your eyes,� comments the blonde as we lie on her bed. �They�re not blue or green, grey perhaps.�

�Well, it says blue on my birth certificate.� I reply.

�No, they�re grey.�

�Ok. What time is it?�

�Three am.�

�God, I need some sleep.�

�Hey, I�m not finished with you yet!�

Originally published in Aesthetica Magazine #6

� James Quinton

Reproduced with permission

---

'A SECRET LIFE'

as soon as you go to bed
I start living my life
I sink two or three beers
unlock and stumble out of the back door
light a cigarette and take it deep
under the stars I exhale
and think 'what's next?�
in life and in love

� James Quinton

Reproduced with permission

---

'WEEKEND WARRIORS'

A loose mix of alcohol and chat
An evening that sped through
Art, life, literature and love
There was talk of a club
-I wasn�t too keen

But later that night
I found myself
Gyrating up against some
Piece with crooked teeth
She grabbed my crotch
And I grabbed her arse
We kissed like lovers
She was slim with
Long dark curly hair
Dressed in black
We spoke little
She took my number
And left at midnight

No sooner had she gone
I was dancing with another
She was beautiful
Short brown hair
I thought I falling in love
Her ample breasts pushing
Right up against me
Her tongue down my throat
�You lucky bastard� Gary shouted
He was right- I was
At the end of the night
She had rubbed my cock raw
She took my number
And left

We left as
Usual when the
Club shut at
One o�clock

Stumbling into the cold night air
We talked about it all
We laughed about it all

Later
Standing in Gary�s
Parent�s kitchen
Drinking tea and
Smoking the remainder
Of our cigarettes
We deliberated
Analysed
And reflected
On the evening
Careful
Not to miss out a detail

I had the walk
Home however back
Out into the cold

And as I contended
With the onset
Of a frost the
Evening that had just
Passed now felt like
A lifetime ago

� James Quinton
Reproduced with permission

---

'LUNCH TIME'

I was in the first
year at high
school the school was the
worst in town
a run down comprehensive violence,
racism and bullying
were everyday occurrences school hours
were spent sitting
behind battered desks starring blankly
at a blackboard
as the teacher tried to
teach over the
sound of shouting. I first
heard about it
from a friend�s brother who
was in the
fifth and final year compared
to us the
fifth years were giants well-built
Neanderthals the fifth
year football team had won
all the local
competitions mainly by using extreme
violence I didn�t
believe it I mean perhaps
I just dismissed
It perhaps it just didn�t
sink in I
didn�t think such a thing
was possible I
was only 12 at the
time but this friend told
me again he
told me he was going
to find out
for himself he wanted me
to go with
him I agreed it was
happening at lunchtime
at the bottom of the school
playing field there
were twelve abandoned garages six
facing the other
six a couple of them contained
burnt out cars
the others dumped furniture at
night they were
a hang out for drug
dealers and the
homeless but during the day
you�d find the
older pupils skiving off, smoking,
drinking, setting fire
to the furniture so we
walked the length of the
playing field it
was a hot summers day at
the bottom of
the playing filed we walked
through the steel
gates and turned right and
walked towards the
garages there was a crowd
of about 10
boys all fifth formers standing
around next to
the bottom garage we could
here the jeers
and shouts we walked tentatively
up to the
crowd weary and aware that
we�d probably be
told to push off, but
no they just
looked at us blankly as
we approached they
continued to puff away on their
cigarettes watching something�
I was sweating slightly it
looked like it
was going to turn out
to be true
the jeers got loader as
we approached the
crowd even moved aside so
we could see
what was going on we
turned our heads and stood
looking into the
garage it was true in
the garage was
an old armchair in the
armchair sat a
girl I vaguely recognised from
seeing around school
one boy was standing by
the side of
the chair he had his
penis out and
she was sucking on it
I simply couldn�t
believe my eyes,
the next thing to happen
was another boy
walked up and started to
undo her blouse
once open the boy started
playing with her breasts kneading
and kissing then
she carried on sucking, the
boy kissing the
breasts hitched up her skirt
and worked her
knickers off throwing them to
the floor, they
were light blue, another boy
from the crowd
picked them up sniffed them
and put them
in his pocket, with her
knickers off the
boy took out his penis
pulled her legs
forward and apart
and put himself inside her

the boy who was
being fellated came and
he pulled back
and the boy between her
legs started to
work harder another boy
stepped forward it
was his turn to be
fellated, we watched there was
nothing else
to do just watch, I
remember thinking how
beautiful she was I liked
her breasts and
she was very hairy, a few
minutes more passed
and then we heard the
sound of running and shouting
behind us we
turned and saw three teachers
running towards us
the crowd broke up and ran
in all directions
we ran also but they
weren�t after us
the girl and the boys
involved were suspended
and their year left when
term broke up
a few weeks later�

� James Quinton
Reproduced with permission