New Kid on the Tower Block
Balletic you tested each stair
with toe, pad and heel.
Your hand glided the banister
as you stopped to shake sunshine
into the dark staircase.
Your shirt held clouds
you’d clung onto on the rooftop.
I could see the skyline
in your legs poised like cranes.
That evening you brought in
the dank brook on your trousers.
You told me how the water
drank you as you waded her length
to find the unfamiliar way home.
Sonia Jarema was born in Luton to Ukrainian parents. Her poems have appeared on-line here and Every Day Poets and in print in several anthologies. In 2010 she was shortlisted for The Enfield Poetry Competition.
This poem was published previously online at http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/poetry-from-art-online-anthology-2012