<\/p>\n
Because you too have lost the one you loved<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019ve grown a beard since last we met in the underpass, It looks to me like a sign. Washed and neatly skirted as I am, this hirsute howl. Not only that: this hat punched down this slow-fingered hand, this coat that gives you the outline So when I\u2019ve fumbled forth my money and you\u2019ve roared after that? I think not of his loping, leaping joy, nor of his stillness how he asked your name and you told him, and we called you by it. For years we were kind with the ease of privilege. Now your beard, in an inch of water might just as well be mine. You\u2019re kindred <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ingrid Hanson<\/strong> has published work on Victorian literature and politics, peace protest, international debt and death. (She does also laugh, on occasion.) Her poetry has appeared in Antiphon<\/i>. You can find her on Twitter here: @ihhanson.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Because you too have lost the one you loved You\u2019ve grown a beard since last we met in the underpass, John: an unruly grief-beard, ragged with rage. It looks to me like a sign. Washed and neatly skirted as I am, I long for it to be mine. It might just as well be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14251,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739\/revisions\/14251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJohn: an unruly grief-beard, ragged with rage.<\/p>\n
\nI long for it to be mine. It might just as well be mine,<\/p>\n
\nin the middle to make a dip for passers-by to fill with coins,<\/p>\n
\nof a living man, these too could just as well be mine.<\/p>\n
\nand I\u2019ve agreed and you ask me: how do you keep going<\/p>\n
\nbut of how he listened to your story while I lingered,<\/p>\n
\nOf how the woman was with you, but she didn\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n
\nyour hat, the filthy coat in which you\u2019re hunched like a fish<\/p>\n
\nto me now, John. Even your words sound like mine.<\/p>\n