Sleeping Through July
The grass grew tall inside our heads
to mark all the days we lost.
Your eyes were sealed like two buds
quietly refusing to blossom.
My shadow flattened a skylark’s nest.
Under a blanket of warm summer rain
our bones bleached the earth
and formed a pair of chalk horses
where kids trailed after hopeless kites
and someone’s lover
kept the engine ticking over
until they couldn’t wait any longer.
I don’t remember who woke first —
only your peeling skin, my urgent thirst.
…
Siegfried Baber was born in Barnstaple, Devon in 1989 and his poetry has featured in a variety of publications including Under The Radar, The Interpreter’s House, Butcher’s Dog Magazine, online with The Compass Magazine and Ink, Sweat and Tears, and as part of the Bath Literature Festival. His debut pamphlet When Love Came To The Cartoon Kid is published by Telltale Press, with its title poem nominated for the 2015 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. London Road West, an eBook of poems and photographs, is now available to download from www.siegfriedbaber.co.uk
atriumpoetry.com 