Robert Hamberger
Date
(for Keith Rainger)
Nine years ago tonight you shook my hand.
A man's touch: our first. In the absence
of wedding bells we honour that unplanned
minute of meeting, when any pretence
undressed itself and our skin admitted
I like this one. I want to know more.
We knocked against each other and instead
of parting made a date: The New Inn where
I arrived deliberately late, so I wouldn't seem
too eager. I was ready, thinking Make him wait,
making myself wait, wanting to swim
inside the next hour with you, to find out
what happens when you meet a man you like
and drink his words and want your life to wake.
Robert Hamberger has been awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship and shortlisted for a Forward Prize. He has published two collections: Warpaint Angel (1997, Blackwater Press) and The Smug Bridegroom (2002, Five Leaves).
Page(s) 79
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