The Ugly (by John Glenday)

Griffin Prize for Excellence In Poetry, The (2001 - 0)

Original Text

John Glenday, Grain (London: Picador, 2009). This poem is reproduced on the Griffin Prize Web Site (from a volume on the 2010 International Shortlist).

1I love you as I love the Hatchetfish,

2the Allmouth, the Angler,

3the Sawbelly and Wolf-eel,

4the Stoplight Loosejaw, the Fangtooth;

5all our sweet bathypelagic ones,

6and especially those too terrible or sly

7even for Latin names; who staple

8their menfolk to the vagina’s hide

9like scorched purses, stiff with seed;

10whom God built to trawl

11endless cathedrals of darkness,

12their bland eyes gaping like sores;

13who would choke down hunger itself,

14had it pith and gristle enough;

15who carry on their foreheads

16the trembling light of the world.

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2011