Jackie Wills
Black Slingbacks
On the 18th floor, looking over miles of estates
I thought I could see hills with trees on.
As if the edge of a city was that easy to define.
At night, it’s like every picture you’ve ever seen
of skyscrapers. If I’d been there longer
perhaps I’d be able to name
those three blocks together, the long cliffs
by Elephant and Castle. But I never smelled
chocolate from the biscuit factory
vinegar from Sarsons, which Carolyn said
rose sweet and sour on the wind
with the sound of trains.
One night I tried my key in the door
but it was locked from inside
and when you opened like a gaoler
I saw the shoes. ‘I’ve got a friend here,
I’m sorry.’ You didn’t think I’d be back.
The date’s in my cheque book -
£7, taxi, the 24th.
I thought I could see hills with trees on.
As if the edge of a city was that easy to define.
At night, it’s like every picture you’ve ever seen
of skyscrapers. If I’d been there longer
perhaps I’d be able to name
those three blocks together, the long cliffs
by Elephant and Castle. But I never smelled
chocolate from the biscuit factory
vinegar from Sarsons, which Carolyn said
rose sweet and sour on the wind
with the sound of trains.
One night I tried my key in the door
but it was locked from inside
and when you opened like a gaoler
I saw the shoes. ‘I’ve got a friend here,
I’m sorry.’ You didn’t think I’d be back.
The date’s in my cheque book -
£7, taxi, the 24th.
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