Wednesday, June 23, 2021

New Poetry by Patrick Williamson










The cold passages led here

I am in the dressing room, a cot of pleasure
at the foot of your bed, a bare den:
I am the man who adjusts his tie in the hallway
your dreams rush by the window,
your fears rustle branches, the screech of night.
I peeped on au-pairs clutching towels;
keyhole pleasures of steam
flashes of dark hair, flickering tremors,
I held my breath
the draped figure suddenly withdrew.
In the middle of night, each thought dwells,
becomes another moment of my life,
pumped out, the morning light uncovers
a restless sod, that scatters.
Nothing lasts. The floorboards always creaked,
linoleum wrinkled then, as now.


- © Patrick Williamson 2021


Patrick is an English poet and translator. He is editor and translator of The Parley Tree, Poets from French-speaking Africa and the Arab World (Arc Publications) and translator of Tahar Bekri, Guido Cupani and Erri de Luca. Most recent poetry collection : Traversi (English-Italian, Samuele Editore). Patrick is also a founding member of transnational literary agency Linguafranca.

No comments:

Post a Comment