Friday 10 June 2016

poetry 2016/062

Northampton, 4:32 AM

late night café
the windows opaque
with the steaming rain
from midnight clientèle still damp.

sulphurous shadows
as early morning streetlights
hide her eyes beneath a black fedora,
just the glint of plum fingernails
clutching the head of a temporary lover
as she goes down
split jeans turning dark
the inky black of pavement pools.
Floodlit by the lights of a passing car
she turns her head,
closing her eyes against the glare.
The whoop of teenage boys
as the engine dopplers away
lost into the threat of morning.

Morning cigarettes turn to ash
litter the pavement.
The lingering damp spot on my cheek
where she kissed me goodbye
and the orange glow of the petrol light.

No comments: