Clippers
We took turns on the wooden chair,
feet bare-soled on the kitchen tiles,
head bent forward as if in prayer,
the old towel around your shoulders.
As the clippers purred, nape to crown,
I folded each of your ears in turn,
while outside, beyond our blue
back fence, the unlit Sainsburys sign
switched on, a disappointing sunset.
Under my hand, your warm stubbled skull,
the tender geographies of each slight hollow,
the bang of blood, true edges of our kingdoms.
Jessica Mayhew’s collection Longship won the 2018 Melita Hume prize. The collection explores the boundaries between Norse mythology and the modern world. She is also the author of two pamphlets, ‘Someone Else’s Photograph’ and ‘Amok’. Her poetry, fiction and essays have been published in magazines including Ambit, Stand, Staple, Brittle Star, Magma, and The Interdisciplinary Literary Studies Journal. You can find her on Instagram @jesslmayhew.