New Poetry by Ashley Capes

mark

we’re supposed to mark each other
you know
exactly how it goes, you know
it’s one of those rules
that govern Life,
the ones that offer a tarnished
kind of comfort
in their supposed iron-cladding
like the ones
that only get fulfilled
in the cosy narratives of midday movies
and Disney
or any given summer’s
feel-good
hit
and you know
all of this
the way you knew it before we met
but you’re still like me
and you know
it’s not like that on the other side of the screen
or at least it doesn’t
have to be
and so instead of marks
we have always tried to leave behind
the kind of thoughts
that
if we care to look up and see them
will
burn their
afterimage across
the entire sky.


- Ashley Capes 2018


Ashley is a poet, novelist and teacher from Australia. He loves haiku, Ghibli films and volleyball.