35mm
Haul down the ladder and you’re in
under a skylight casting a blue dream.
Lino offcuts, packing cases, old 45s,
brogues, spilled jigsaw pieces, hats.
Here our cast-off selves come
to console each other. We remember
less than we forget.
Under a spillage of photos: brown rolls
of 35mm film, friable, delicate,
each frame a window – my mother
and father on a palm-strewn beach,
lives easing open on the wind
from the south-east, her knee-length
dress flaring, his hair lifting in a salute
and I am learning to walk, still unsure
what legs do, bright-eyed with height
and speed, ready to lurch from the frame
in an embrace and I promise to catch you,
carry you for as long as I can as we go
together, arms outstretched, unsteady,
always about to fall.
Jon Miller has had poetry published in a wide range of literary magazines. Winner of the International Book & Pamphlet Competition 2022. Latest pamphlet Past Tense Fu-ture Imperfect (2023) published by Smith/Doorstop. Twitter – @jmjon6