Payday
Mid-afternoon and the streets smell of petrichor;
people spilling out of pubs, crowding to smoke cigs
in the early spring sunshine. I am alone, again.
All my friends live thousands of miles away. I am closer
to the people who are not near me geographically.
What a bittersweet irony. Time slips away from me.
I’ve been reading The Iliad lately. The way Patroclus
slashed his away across the battlefield, before his armour
was ripped off his back by Apollo. The gods decide
everything. He thought he stood a fighting chance,
as if human beings are capable of changing anything.
I think we are, in our own endearing little ways. We want
to crash and burn, like heroes glittering in bronze. We know
our time on this planet is so limited, so fleeting, anyway.
Eve Chancellor is an English Teacher in Manchester. Her poems have been published online and in multiple literary magazines, including: Acropolis Journal, Dream Catcher, Hyacinth Review and Seaside Gothic. Her poem ‘Two Girls on a Greyhound’ was the Ink Sweat & Tears Pick of the Month in March 2023. Her short stories are featured on East of the Web.