What’s in a Name?
I watched as the car pulled off one last time
the magic trick of making you disappear,
wheels drove the lines from where we waited
counting up under blinking LED numbers
anxiously red and trying to hold papers
their corresponding corners rolling inward
where fingers had muddled ink smudges
I could see prints layer their traces over.
When our turn came, the badge said ‘Mary’
her disinterested gaze, contemptuous and slow
flicking her spittle soaked fingers
she stamped green without another word
and the next number was called, we moved on
down similar streets where mist blew yesterday
and the day before, but nothing had changed
all that really, yet something lingered
like stones in the morning
that came to roll away sleeping heads
and leave sockless feet stalling
where every molecule had once lived
now exhausted, the sill had been untouched
instead I watched branches,
as they sprouted through streaks
my face super imposed on the struggling leaves.
Chris Clark is a Scottish-born poet, currently living in Norwich. He studies at the University of East Anglia, as part of the MA Poetry programme, and has previously featured in publications such as Astronaut and Literati Magazine. He is currently working on a poetry/photography collaboration, due out later in 2014. He enjoys mediocre 90s TV and cheese. His website can be found at http://neveraboutyou.com/