Drive to the junkyard,
to check out the weather
beating into ironwork,
the torsion of steel.
Or swing by the dealer
of aggregate and masonry,
blue quartz and white lime
are drifting pyramids
on the concrete forecourt,
where a seashell is astray
from the channel bed.
A house is all that remains.
Pass the wall by the railway,
where nettles sway in the breeze
behind chain link. Bleached paper.
Porn in bracken. Broken glass.
The beer cans around the campfire
are the remains of the weekend.
Over there is what you wish for,
here is what you have.
I seek to absent myself
through these routines.
Graffiti on the signal house,
corrosion biting into yellow paint.
A peculiar quality
to light in these days:
grey fading into white,
cinders dumped into milk.
Originally published on Caught By The River
Features in my collection West South North, North South East, which you can buy here, if you’re so inclined.
Absence Club 