Stuart McPherson

Stuart McPherson



Significant Repetition Analyst

The way to measure lengths of a shadow
is to return every night to the same place.

Lampshade to alcove. Rail to crawlspace.
An inflection point. The curving backs of

silverfish wriggling beneath the edges of
a cloyed carpet. If the truth be told, I’m so

boring to me. A grave estimation appears
leaden, cupped late in the clapping hands.

A thrown-up mercury cook-apple ready-
ing for precious metal assessment. Curl of

grey wave has followed me here. I won’t
look it in the eyes. I don’t bother searching

for atrocities, war crimes. Nothing changes.
Just a brittleness of nostalgia between teeth.





STUART MCPHERSON is a poet from Leicester in the UK. Recent poems have appeared in Butcher’s Dog Magazine, Poetry Wales and Anthropocene. His debut full length collection Obligate Carnivore will be published by Broken Sleep Books in August 2022.