after three beers you saw the clouds for what they were

white letters on a pale blue background

but there is something inside you

something slick, metallic and unrecognisable

it comes up when you speak of your father

or when you hear the works of erik satie

 

you showed me how to plug your ears

so that the screaming turned to the whisper of the sea

a rattling wheeze stuck inside a static plagued wireless

a conch held to a childhood that tasted so spotless, salty

 

tremble, nervous shipwreck, only night will bring the luminescence

of hatchetfish and gulper eels

the swollen moon kissing the tips of the spray

white letters on the blackest canvas

this is how we moved away

in circles ever colder