Dad

by Alan Peat

My father was a softly-spoken man. He taught me how to net and kill butterflies. He taught me how to stun them by pinching their middles. He said they wouldn’t damage themselves if they were stunned this way. We soaked cotton wool in alcohol and watched them die in repurposed jam jars. At his funeral everyone commented on his gentle nature.

6S

Alan Peat is a U.K. based poet, author, and Fellow of both The Royal Society of Arts & The Historical Association. He has a long standing interest in surrealism and co-authored the catalogue raisonné of the surrealist artist John Tunnard (Scolar Press 1997 with Professor Brian Whitton). His poems have been published by Frogpond; Iron Press; Redbeck Press; Crocus Books; helio sparrow; Mayfly; Heron’s Nest; Blithe Spirit; Modern Haiku; Presence etc. In 2021 he placed third in the International Golden Triangle Haiku competition.