Thirteen Layers of Dust
It undulates in angles, moved by the draught
That fingers its way unbidden under lintels,
Coagulates in corners, forming swathes
Lent substance by random gatherings of fur.
Over time I have become accustomed to it,
Overlook it mostly; aware of it only
In the uncomfortable presence of others.
It is familiar. It grows. It changes.
Each time the front door opens
It scuttles across the room in confusion.
An old friend not quite, as the phrase goes, with us,
Whose soft hands quiver in a fluttery welcome,
Wild eyebrows asking, aghast, who are you, who are you?
That fingers its way unbidden under lintels,
Coagulates in corners, forming swathes
Lent substance by random gatherings of fur.
Over time I have become accustomed to it,
Overlook it mostly; aware of it only
In the uncomfortable presence of others.
It is familiar. It grows. It changes.
Each time the front door opens
It scuttles across the room in confusion.
An old friend not quite, as the phrase goes, with us,
Whose soft hands quiver in a fluttery welcome,
Wild eyebrows asking, aghast, who are you, who are you?
Page(s) 3
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The