Intruder
A rattle
spikes through my ear.
Tin, tin, tin.
Tintinnabulation.
Fingers
seeking their way in –
sneaking,
screaking fingers,
scratching at the metal,
scrambling for the bolt.
Ding dong.
What a racket!
Tin, tin, tin.
I’m on the sofa
blinking
at the blue jug of tulips,
the boggling green
corners,
the candle
burnt to rigor mortis.
Tin, tin, tin.
I squint
through the door’s
distortions…
There’s a ripple
at the gate.
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Pan.
Pan who?
Panic.
Pandemic.
Pandemonium.
Hinges screak.
Cloven trainers clop
Sugar-Plum-Fairy-down
each iron step.
Pan smites the glass,
hops in.
In 2020, C.P. Nield’s poems were published in The Spectator, The North, Magma, The New European, Brittle Star, Obsessed by Pipework, Stand and Orbis. His poem ‘Compost’ shortlisted in the Telegraph’s lockdown poetry competition. Previously, his poems have featured in New Poetries IV (Carcanet) and The Poet’s Quest for God (Eyewear), as well as PN Review, Ambit, The Rialto, Poetry Wales and The London Magazine. He has recently completed a Poetry MA at UEA.