and the smell of the tip coming in strong
as the flowers in the backyard are colourful
and the dogshits drying quicker becoming
neater to lift from the shingle like shells
and all things becoming easier waking
in the morning getting through the day
so now we’re in the loft sealing woollen jumpers
like precious cargo of an earlier darker age
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and when you crack the velux window like opening
a fresh tin of paint beyond the low roofs the city
skyline is shimmering like a lake I dream
of pushing you headlong into
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Andrew McMillan’s poetry collections include “Pandemonium” (Jonathan Cape). He is the co-editor, with Mary Jean Chan, of “100 Queer Poems” (Vintage)
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This article appears in the 20 Jul 2022 issue of the New Statesman, The Broken Party