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.