Those of us
Those of us who were out
last night
planting beans in the sun
who were woken by a seabird
drumming on the roof of the cabin
and found the pitch of the boat
had loosened while we were asleep,
those whose hands remember
the warmth of an egg
before it cooled
have woken to find the morning
dark with rain.
How we turn from the window
to keep our minds from the rain
distrusting even
the brightness that will follow.
*Tony Williams’s first poetry collection, The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street (Salt, 2009), was shortlisted for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and the Portico Prize for Literature. Sean O’Brien, writing in Poetry Review, said that “To read Williams’s work is to be convinced afresh that this is an exciting time for poetry”. He teaches creative writing at Northumbria University and is currently working on a book of very short stories and a second book of poems.
