Cultured Llama

Christmas is Coming… and special offer: free book with every order made by 20 December 2013

Spot the Christmas connections in these seasonal cuttings from our books.

From ‘turkey’ in Unauthorised Person by Philip Kane

when carole
in a fit of temper throws
from the window sunday lunch
a turkey in cream sauce
she had prepared earlier
johnnie wails

From ‘Christmas at Grandmother’s’ in A Radiance by Bethany W Pope

The Christmas tree glows with enormous
white bulbs, which even at this distance
bake their waves against his neck, a crisping radiation,
though John is not allowed to see the laden boughs.
He has been clinging to Grandmother again,
and deserves what he gets.

From ‘Shop Till You’ in Canterbury Tales on a Cockcrow Morning by Maggie Harris

Natasha stood sullenly inside the wide screen of glass and looked at her watch. 4.15. Another forty-five minutes of standing in her boring role as greeter, Hello, how are you today? as a steady stream of what she called losers rippled through the doorway. She hated when it was her turn to be greeter. Hated being the dummy that spoke, that sometimes frightened the customers when she moved, hated parting her perfect lips and showing her crooked teeth.

From ‘The Wagtail Tree’ in Notes From a Bright Field by Rose Cook

A hundred small bodies perch in silence,
all facing the same way.
Festive bulbs are strung around their tree,
uplighting their pale breasts, their long tails.
They look like decorations.

This when my mother lies sleeping
through her last Christmas
and my life has a split screen
with her hollowed face in the corner
and me wrapping presents

with a memory of tree dressing,
her hands clipping a silver wagtail to a branch.

From ‘Slipping Down’ in strange fruits by Maria C McCarthy

Boxing Day, and asked what you ate
for Christmas dinner you say,
‘I should remember’

You are slumped in a high-backed chair,
covered with a name-labelled blanket:
someone else’s.

We are told that at the Christmas party
you boomed out the unerasable hymns,
rallied the others to sing.

Today you remember your daughter’s face,
not her name; and of your son you inquire.
‘Have we met?’

From ”Difference’ in The Strangest Thankyou by Richard Thomas

In a star a man was born
like no other man
you have known before;
he had coarse teeth
and iced blood
and when he bled
he bled cherry popsicles.

Enjoy more from these and other books…
Why not buy your Christmas gifts from Cultured Llama? We have poetry, short stories and an anthology containing both. If you order direct from Cultured Llama HQ, your books will arrive in an envelope lovingly hand-stamped with the Cultured Llama logo and with a free Cultured Llama postcard for you to use as a bookmark. Tempted? We hope so.

Order by Friday 20 December to be sure of delivery in time for Christmas. Special offer for books ordered by 20 December: a free copy of our anthology Unexplored Territory with every order, while stocks and this offer last.