Ritual by Paul Waring

Breakfast coffee notes
breathe life into a room

morning sun awakes
a mahogany table

where five HB pencils lie
like fresh-baked baguettes

and plates of paper wait
with hungry mouths.

Through open windows
of thought, first words.



Paul Waring is a retired clinical psychologist from Wirral, UK. His poetry is published in Prole, Atrium, Obsessed With Pipework, Ink, Sweat & Tears, London Grip and elsewhere. Awarded second place in the 2019 Yaffle Prize, commended in the 2019 Welshpool Poetry Competition, his pamphlet ‘Quotidian’ is published by Yaffle.