A Night Spent Together

8/16/2019 A Night Spent Together

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A Night Spent Together

Though we had adorned ourselveswith all we knew of adulthood —a cigarette, a popular cynicism,

a conversation about an art gallery —we were still children playing at love.We recited our ‘I love you’s as an act,donning the phrase like a cowboy hatto become fearless gunslingers,seasoned frontiersmen of that Wild West,and not, as we uietly knew ourselves to be,

!ust two lone boys clinging together.

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#I’d give anything

for $ngland to draw right now%my father saidas we were losing &'( to Italy.)nd I imagined the lookon my mother’s face later that nightas he presented her with the contractdrawn up by the *evil himself +who was listening in from behind the sofa.

There, signed in blood, would bemy father’s hasty scrawl,with me packing a bagtrying to think how many socks I’d needfor an eternity in hell-rewhile the T /ashedthe triumphant words0 &'&.

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Secular Grace

I prostrate myself before the plateI supplicate my supperI worship holy wholegrain bread

and benedicted butter. """""""""""""

Times I Knew

I -rst knew it when I heard the ticking of the clock.)nd when I remembered the name of an author while kissing your neckI knew it when I realised that our walks home were uickerbecause I’d stopped stopping to kiss you every few yards.I knew it when I ran out of things to say)nd I knew it when I stopped worrying I’d ran out of things to say.I woke up in the night and didn’t turn to kiss you

)nd then I knew it.1ut the -rst time, when I had no doubt


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was when I noticed I could hear the ticking of the clock.‘Poem’

We cannot stare into the sun+2ut up your mirrors3 I’ve begun3

I’ll look at you through glass and puns+4eep up the act until I’m done.

We cannot talk from ) to 1 The lost feat of sincerityWe cannot cry, but we weep$ither too loud or silently

)s a poet might put it#I love you%a children’s character might say#We’re friends%

I suppose you might say that I mean thisbut I’m only prepared to pretend.

""""""""""""" Where the 5ost Things 6o +2oem after $li7abeth 1ishop’s #8ne )rt%

I’ll meet you in the place where all the lost things go.8pportunities aboundin the place where the lost things go3It’s a place of youthful years and beautyand bus passesand car keys,and 9hristmases when it used to snow.

:o be ready in the place where all the lost things go.Where the important bits of paper are+and the way you used to laugh before—+and my ability to let it go.

We’ll -nd the time againfrom when we’ve watched

re'runs again.We’ll -nd the time againfrom -ghtingfrom sulkingfrom listening to what :imon 9owell said.

We’ll -nd all the words from tips of tongues,all the chances I ever had,all sense of hope for the world;we’ll -nd my mind and yours as well.

*on’t worry, I’m right behind you0

I’ll soon get lost too.I’ve been getting lost ever since


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I went and I lost you. """""""""""""

:afe space

erent kinds of neatly'stocked shampoo.I strolled aimlessly, unhungry,walking amongst the peoplebusy at their work of planning mealsand -nding the right kind of lima beans,their trivial conversations sustained me.I walked longer still,-ngering the bad **sand listening to tinny chart songsthe store radio played,all the same, as if on repeat.:hopping purely for images,I notice the still, silent air,the shiny bottles of wineand tired cashier.I walk the endless smooth tiled /oor.I like this place.

I’m happy here.

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A Night Spent Together