A micro-review in the spirit of Sheppard’s own announcement of this chapbook’s publication:

‘Yesterday I micro-launched this micro-book of micro-poems. Don’t worry: nobody was there’.

It is micro – excellently so. Playful and innovative and evocative. A wonderfully symbiotic collection for a Red Ceilings chapbook

I have particularly enjoyed The Working Week poems and am currently macro-liking Haibun: 52 Haiku.

Get it here.

I have read again
Trump’s ‘The Squad’ tweets
from today

and rather than articulate rage
or try to conceptualise
the depths of his inane behaviour

I have instead checked out
the recycling, food waste and rubbish calendar
for a pragmatic catharsis.

send who back
send which back
send whom back

send them back
send I back
send they back
send me back
send those back
send we back
send us back

send one back
send some back
send anybody back
send everybody back
send everyone back

send yourself back
send myself back
send ourselves back
send yourselves back
send themselves back

back who
back which
back whom

back them
back I
back they
back me
back those
back we
back us

back one
back some
back anybody
back everybody
back everyone

back yourself
back myself
back ourselves
back yourselves
back themselves

She is deadheading
and drops to the grass
the pinched out
and picked off for
further colourlessness.

I see her paralleling
what will come to pass
and is now about
time lived before
eventual decisiveness.