And The Rest
Just like last week, this poem is directly inspired by a song from the playlist that my partner has put together for me. This one was written with ‘Message In A Bottle’ by The Police playing, and I’ve embedded that song below so you can have a listen while you read the poem. I hope you enjoy this one!
And The RestPicture: the window, dust-stained,
mould-rimmed, weeping with cold,
closed–perhaps never opened,
perhaps unopenable–and a face.
The lines, the shadows, the curves
and creases and holes and–
the lips, quivering–perhaps wet,
perhaps met by trails, lingering,
pulsing, widening–and a hand.
Interrupting, intruding, becoming
a quarter of the image–maybe more,
maybe less, gaps of glimpses left–
until it meets saltless droplets,
the touch soft but removing, spreading,
reducing, squashing–and a shock.
There is another. And another,
and another, in a fragment of a second,
fleeting, and their glass is dry,
or cracked, their fingers wide,
thin, dark, light, acrylics like claws
and nails bitten to blood, all staring,
all wide-eyed, all-knowing–and a breath.
The trails widen, but the lips–all of them,
all at once–curve up, and it bubbles,
the silent laughter, the brief madness,
shared, halved, quartered, until
a wet hand pulls back; the illusion ends
but the smile remains, defiant, meeting
the knowing cracks of a filtered sunrise,
and the dawn chorus, and the rest.
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