Five Star, China
by Matthew James Friday

Opposite the Garden hotel –
the only 5-star hotel in Guangzhou,
the boast – a man lying on the ground,
limbs like skewered steak, tenderising
the dirt-patterned pavement with his fists.
Local people stroll by, blind to angry begging
but shocked tourists stare. Above beat
the bats, the blinking skinny wings
of bats, circling in dark holes, looking
for an early meal in a dead grey sky,
from stars that cannot be seen.

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Matthew James Friday is a professional writer and graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmith College, London. His poems and short stories have been accepted for publication in the following magazines and literary journals: A Handful of Stones, Bolts of Silk, Cadenza, Carillon, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Earth Love, Erbacce, Envoi, Finger Dance Festival, Gloom Cupboard, IS&T (Ink, Sweat & Tears), The New Writer, Third Wednesday, Of Nepalese Clay, Pens on Fire, Pulsar Poetry, Red Ink, South and Writing Magazine.