Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

     *

A change in the weather sets the snow ablaze
On a slope where sand-martins gather.
I lick your lips, seal our love from the inside.

Clambered out of my unwieldy zip-suit,
Settled down on you, heavily, like a depression.
Suddenly found myself unimaginably loved.

     *

Just because I was wrong about the unicorn,
Ignatius Loyola and penis-envy,
You surely needn’t doubt my love for you.

The sheets, still creased from your fragrances
Hang between apple-trees. The goldfinch lets fall his flute
Between our bodies.

Love turned up like a late summer guest. Hard to grasp that                                                                                  others
Entered your body, and the world, before me. There is nothing of                                                                                             you
That I discovered myself.

Before, I also rang when you weren’t at home.
Now I sleep on your side when you’re away.
That way we lose less time with each other.

    *

There’s an erotic vocabulary I’ve long since used up.
When I knead your shoulder my wrist brushes against your                                                                                 nipple.
We manage most things without words.

Our glances so shameless they stayed embedded in each                                                                                      other.
My soul said: “You can’t carry on like this.”
The body replied: “Let’s discuss that later.”

I run to you as one runs towards traffic lights
In the distance: wondering if I’ll make it
Before they change.

    *
I remember suddenly how excited I was
The first time I folded up your dress and laid it
Over my shirt on the chair.

     *

During the night our backs rub together like rowing-boats
At the same mooring-ring. The timbers showing signs of wear,                                                                             the years
Holding them tight. We are floating.

    *

One begins by loving someone for what’s familiar,
But gradually one also begins to love
What one doesn’t understand.

    *

Your eyes darken, a flock of jackdaws swerves through                                                                                 them,
You don’t see me. But on the banisters our hands
Meet unexpectedly, just like in one of my love-stories.

    *

You sleep, breathing hard in staccato unrest. I don’t wake                                                                                 you, I’m
At the mercy of your dreams. You’ve taken off your                                                                                 wedding-ring.
The skin’s lighter there. Your hand, unprotected.

    *

You spread your fingers as if there was nothing left
To grip. I taste your absence, moistly intimate
But unknown. Like tongue-tip to tongue-tip in the dark.

    *

Driving home alone at high speed through a night
As full of holes as a worn umbrella
I feel your hand come between my hand and the wheel.

    *

Feelings and states can die out like animal species.
My innocence left me without my noticing it.
Rubbed the rust from the knife-blade. Brought out the shine of                                                                                                 love.