Night punting to standstill
We could see nothing
Except the fizz
Of our cigarettes
We did not know
Where the edge of the water
Met the boat, or bank
Our eyes were shut
Or not, we couldn’t
Tell, and anyway
We didn’t care
We had no coins
We were going
Nowhere; we trailed
Our fingers through
The plashy Cam
We pushed ourselves
Through the night
And it was heaven
Natalie Shaw lives and works in London. She has a kind husband and children of varying sizes. Her poetry has been published widely in journals and anthologies and she is currently editing a book of poems inspired by artist Natalie Sirett’s Medusa & Her Sisters series of drawings.