Poem – ‘Bookmark’ (Magma 27)

My poem ‘Bookmark’ was published in Magma 27.

I was thrilled to appear on the same page as Mark Doty – but the editor Tim Robertson assured me this was pure coincidence.

Bookmark

For Paul

To me you were incessant,
pestering, encroaching on my time,
a fly that kept landing
and landing on the page
that had to be brushed aside.

To you I was incredible,
sat on my arse with a book
while you waited with a ball
and a carpet of flawless grass
rolled out to touch the sky.

Now I have all the books I want
on shelves beyond harm’s reach
and time to read them twice
but the field has shrunk to a photograph
and we’re both too big to fit inside.