geography

walking hand in hand with you around the waters edge

me leading

i made for the old Pomona docks

maybe hoping that it’s demise would reflect back on you

the state of our bond

fallen

i weaved the conversation down a grave blind alley and told you

making eye contact for the first time that day

silence boomed and the sun set as your realisation dawned

i saw the ice in your eyes

your heartbeat all over my ears like a faint bass drum

you flicker-smiled and asked for more

but there was no more

no more of a truth that ended

did you notice how they’d cut the shrubs down on the opposite

bank leaving Ordsall staring back at Hulme ?

did you notice how kids had made a rope swing on the wrought

iron of the Colgate pagoda

or the blue man on the bench with one glove ?

do you notice yet the sunsets that I love or how beauty is

everywhere, waiting for you to look ?

in summer all this will seem different even though it’s not

and what we shared will still be there

built into us

virally embedded and bitter as the cud

preparing and changing us for the new now

for there is not nor ever was a future

just joined on instances of now

like where we choose or choose not to live

was never just a question of geography

GK 26/01/11