Andrew Bailey is a writer based on the South coast, where he works in the education sector and for the Poetry Archive. Poems and reviews have appeared in print and web magazines including Poetry Review, Horizon, the Long Poem Magazine, Gists and Piths and – of course – Brittle Star. He won the Geoffrey Dearmer prize 2005 and a co-written play has received 5-star reviews in the Edinburgh Fringe and the Adelaide Festival.

Pica

A garage and two magpies; friends,
these make the case we must be open
to what joy there is to find.

Symptoms of pica include cravings
for such non-food substances
as paint and flour and gravel.

Pica pica, these two may
be all that they are omen of,
all I can expect today.