Longlisted Poem 2011

Rachel Finn

Peter Symonds College, Hampshire

In Heaven, we’ll kiss the feet of the famous

Before
Crowded, two, together around a stain on the carpet, the spill,
Trying to decide how to solve the world,

1)    So if nothing’s changed, why am I not the same?
2)    Whisked and weighed clouds. Foam. You stare and breathe snakes.
I smile and spit broken stars.

After
Knives in spines and forced expression, grit, bear;
We are only ghosts pressing ears to the doors of other worlds,
1)    Prospects, possibilities, building future skeletons.
2)    Never tentatively even try.  Look.  Arch a foot over a cliff in darkness.
Try to find simplicity.
© Rachel Finn