About Nairn
Nairn Kennedy is a Leeds-based poet whose work has appeared in Orbis, Ink Sweat & Tears, The London Magazine, Stand, The North, Spelt, 14 Magazine and Under the Radar. He’s won second prize in the Ilkley Literature Festival Competition, has been longlisted in the National Poetry Competition, and been highly commended in the Bridport, amongst others, as well as being a runner-up in the 2025 Stanza Competition.
When he’s not writing poetry, he likes to read, develop software and drink more tea than is good for him.
Deep Purple
The café pianist spread his hands, straddled
black and white, pulled up velvet sounds edged
with accidentals, while customers lent
one ear, lubricated chat with sips of Darjeeling,
wolfed mouthfuls of vanilla slice.
They didn’t see him turn to monochrome,
flitter into pixels, re-form as a soft mist
that materialised into Dad, as always, parked
on the creaky piano stool in the front room,
two hundred miles plus a lifetime away.
Freckled by sun-motes drifting
in Sunday afternoon air, Dad spreads
his hands, straddles black and white, pulls
up everything from the depths of nowhere.