They can imagine a forest,
we don’t need this minimalist tree,
we’ll represent a place to live without walls, without foundations or a hearth.

Over and over, you are Dorothy
or Glenda the Good,
me the Wicked Witch of the West

Every evening at the care home, I pull in
two armchairs til they’re facing. Opposites,
we never fist bump, high-five or
touch each other’s vying outstretched fingers.

How two men can become
four men can become
eight men

Take eight each of hex bolts
washers, locks…
it’s important
to fasten these tightly.

Things have been rough lately.
It seems impossible now,
as the breeze relieves us

The new year slouches forward, unlovable,
barely acknowledged but for tired, gritty eyes
and a muffled scream into the kitchen towel.

Never has there been so much interest
in the humble tongue. It peek-a-boos from my mouth
like the little man in a weather clock.

my brother saw his attacker
at a petrol station