First Time Out
Pausing for breath in Toxteth in a sea wind
you say you feel better. Last week’s headlines
from the Echo unreel along derelict streets,
it’s almost a movie except that the sky
is not painted, static. We watch it
slipping over itself like an oil-slick
gliding down river, until you stop, look:
on a bench outside The Angel, women
without men play cards, flick ash, keep watch
on their buggies, give slaps. We catch the stench
of endless last rounds, lock-ins on dark nights,
then you frown, pull my arm, point
at the tar by your foot where a baby bird lies,
ribbed with bike tyres, cheek down.
From the bricked-up church, a chipped saint
is reaching out like a Big Issue seller
but beyond the brewery you see a bright stage-set
and we pass him by, hurry on to our destination,
strung-out lights, galleries, the marina where palms
wave from balconies and clustered yachts
chatter like extras. I toss change in a busker’s hat
and get us ice creams, first of the season.
You know, we could move here if you wanted.
But the sky pulls you down, down to the edge of the quay
where a rail weathered to a hairgrip is all that keeps you
from the mud and shadow of the empty Mersey.
You remark on the beauty of distant lace-necked cranes
while I sense rain, notice pockmarks on the water’s skin
and although you’re smiling, I do up your coat.
You know we shouldn’t stand here for very long.
Page(s) 56
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