Towards

For Sabine. I can only post the ones that have been previously published, otherwise I will compromise the 'previously unpublished' status of the others, for purposes of submission to other publications. This I am delighted to do and it means a lot to me that you ask.

This from 2006, and which also features the white toy cupboard. The poem gave its title to the 20 poem pamphlet-to-be I submitted to the Mslexia competition.

Marking Time

Orange curtains hang

non-negotiable,

ornaments on the mantelpiece,

the pink duvet cover,

mono record player,

flowers on the wallpaper,

fish swimming in their heated tank,

the view down to where the dustbins stand

outside the back door quiet and cold.

And a woodpigeon’s meaningless call.

Nothing else but this world.

I imagine I could sneak a look

into my adult life,

but no pictures come.

I only wonder if I’ll still be here.

Alone with the white toy cupboard,

I feel my pulse beat

hotly in my ears, and don’t know

what it is I’m trying to find.

All these minutes and hours;

breaths and blinks and swallows,

the way your body marks time.