COLLATERAL
What goes through my mind
coughing dirt
breathing dust.
Soft swoon of her bedtime minutes
giving way so sudden.
Nothing at first
but tinnitus crescendo
swelling my head
as I come to realising.
A bedtime tale
once upon a weapon is primed
attack siren lullaby
softly kissing gentle blast of lip on cheek
approaching nothing
but dark.
Trawling the immediate debris
and rooted in rubble
her tiny hand and forearm
planted.
My forefinger tickles her palm
it's what I do
tickle her awake when she's pretending
as she does
imagining a response
hearing her giggle.
Hush baby sleep now.
* Martin Reed's work has been published in Critical Quarterly, a couple of erotic anthologies, on decongested.com and elsewhere. He has work upcoming on elimae.com. He's read live at Foyle's Bookshop. A member of Fiction Workhouse, he blogs ineptly at www.worded.co.uk He'll be reading at Sparks, a flash fiction evening in Brighton, on 14 October – www.otherplaceproductions.co.uk
