[this looks much better on my site]

…on the desk the hands are lit.
Men are shuffling their feet,
tidy nails, a ring, a scar across the pinky —
watch hands & listen to the men…

…breathing together as the curtain brings
a laughing child, coconut & the sea.
sunlit planets orbit and sparkle…

…in your green eyes. Your eyes are the river
exhausted, I’ve stopped swimming.
I lie back & watch, content in the rush…

…hot blood & noise in my head
I’ve pissed myself. I’m in someone else’s shoes
& there’s a blade turning my guts.
The pavement flips and I slip off…

& right then the sun comes up,
right in front of me.
Blessed at last, I’m flying.
Flying. Lights flare red and green…

…down here it’s green-brown and the millrace roaring.
My lungs are hot as I launch into the air.
Dad is waving saying ‘sun’ and Mum is humming
Sergio Mendez & Brazil 66.
He’s saying something, cupping his hands…

Now the desk is bare
but there’s something
in the drawer…

& in the monsoon apartments,
down the hall,
a phone is ringing.

from the archives – April 2001

Image: Hu Ming rapids, River Min, Fukien province, China. Photograph by John Thomson, 1870/1871. c/-  Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk
Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66 – Fool on the Hill (turn it up kids)