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CHRIS CAMPBELL

My Son Grows As I Regress

My chores spread –

with piling pots of plant-based yoghurt.

I stumble over my toddler’s Crocs,

screech from piano stool

to long-life milk,

tread on his latest bear and its tedious tunes.

Spill laundry detergent onto his nappy bin

next to discarded egg and soldiers.

Pats on the brow from my wife as I sprawl.

Ceiling lifts, my cheeks rattle into rashes.

I cast the pushchair’s straps

to hook odd socks.

Babble into rice cakes

now I revert to tantrums,

re-live my own spurts;

will I tell my son one day?

He says duck and quacks.

I pluck my hair as I wipe pesto from his.

We spot feathers on the lawn, buttercups,

there are more teeth in his chortle.

Chris Campbell is a Dublin-born former journalist who works as an Editor in Bristol. Chris’s second full collection, Why I Wear My Past to Work, will be published this month by Parlyaree Press. His new mini pamphlet will be published by Atomic Bohemian in 2026. His poems appear in publications including Magma, Prole, Ink Sweat & Tears, The Waxed Lemon, Sídhe Press, Indigo Dreams’ The Dawntreader, Black Bough Poetry, and Streetcake. Chris was Highly Commended in the 2024 Cobh International Poetry Competition and shortlisted for Canterbury Poet of the Year 2023. He features on BBC Radio Bristol. He has two pamphlets and a collection of poems published, called All Island No Sea (Alien Buddha Press, 2022).

Insta: @bychriscampbell | Website: www.chriscampbellpoetry.co.uk

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