17 years
Our mouths are no longer in love
they forget their place
what they used to be.
After rising I pair lonely hellos
spend the day elsewhere
although you left some time before this.
And still we return
to goodnights like moths that martyr the window
until we fold into ourselves.
J V Birch lives in South Australia. Her poems have appeared in anthologies and magazines across the UK, Canada and Australia, including The New Writer, Sentinel Champions and Australian Love Poems. To find out more, visit www.jvbirch.wordpress.com