Retrod, deep seated
Neo-urban desire
Castles pressed in moonlight
Skim across eyelines
Like crayons on a penny stencil
So many visions compacted
In a whistle: GO!
And they’re off,
More this time
And more, and more;
Velvetine soldiers plodding
Axes aloft, lances sharpened
Ready to prick the Sun and eat its fire.
The pavement lit with carcasses
And the air suffused with wonder
Wonder at all this
Holy noxious perfume, spinning
Outwards, always,
Backwards
Forwards
Orbiting the one thing
You never, ever see.
For every time a bell rings,
An angel gains its wings.
For every time a horn sounds,
Another hits the ground.
—
‘Palimpsest’ was published in 2016 as part of the UEA Undergraduate Creative Writing Anthology, Undertow.
