Between two clouds

We talked in our big voices

about the black sky

between interstellar clouds,

about the shadow space

between the stars and yet

Bea stayed in the car while

I watched the moon, full

and orange, and rising

over the dunes, the surface

of a split open runway –

the salt lake, the tent poles

over cities, mountains,

the backs of trees

overpowering waterfalls,

all she said was:

I wish it never happened.

We never talked about how

the cracks in our teacups

and coffee dregs are now

simply leftovers,

never talked about her ex,

or sex without pain

or how the rain is warmer

when she’s with me

or how one might split the custody

of a vegetable garden

spinach, sunflower, bucket bean,

about how we wept

in separate rooms,

hoping to be heard by the other.

In this new place the windows

are bigger, the curtains are open.

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Published by The Poetry Business as part of Abbie's poetry pamphlet 'Threadbare' in June 2020. To find out more or to buy the book, see here.

First published in 2020 in issue 52 of Crannóg, Ireland's premier fiction and poetry magazine. If you'd like to hear a reading of it, follow this link:

crannogmagazine.com/Onlinelaunch.htm