John Gladwell
Breakfast at the Border
Using words like lightning rods,
each earthed in common sense,
I listen to them bouncing off
this motel’s breeze-blocked walls.
Soaking my eyes in this view of you,
tongue in this taste of you,
the deep familiarity of your fingers
as they slide across my skin.
Your innocence the innocence
of too much seen and done,
too much light in the sky this morning,
as your voice echoes across the cold cocoon
of this room where you now sit,
careful not to wear deodorant
so I can get to smell
how beautiful you really are,
close enough to touch,
yet knowing that if we try
we both will fall off the edge of
those years now closed behind us.
Living beyond myth,
beyond the limits of this land,
yet still imagining we might,
by just stretching out one hand,
reach across and touch the sky.
Patches of blood in the snow
and in the distance, sharp cry
of an animal about to die.
John Gladwell has had work published in previous issues of Ambit plus The Rialto, PN Review and Thumbscrew. He currently lives on the North Essex Coast where he works part-time as a Tranining Adviser and also teaches Creative Writing in Adult Education.
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