Mario Petrucci
Ritorno
A cousin swears she saw him
quietly taking coffee
in his favourite haunt.
He sipped just once.
A Wednesday afternoon
he ran lips along a Rizla
at the foot of mum's garden.
Let her watch.
Two brothers and an aunt
report the odd word
whispered like a tickle
on their necks.
One night, late
I heard a knock. Gentle,
the way he used to.
I couldn't answer.
Mario Petrucci is the Imperial War Museum's first poet in residence. His most recent collection is Bosco (Hearing Eye). He won the 1999 Bridport Prize.
Page(s) 28
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