John Levett

The Afterlives of the Anarchists

Those staples in their foursquare silver strips  Stacked upwards like some brutalist   Manhattan office block  Were teased apart by fingertips And, jammed down in the stapler at half-cock,   Sent shockwaves up my wrist    Then pushed back in    They pierced the skin,   Refusing to align With folded A4’s creased and crooked spine. Another bead of blood.