“A debut collection which uses such directness to create deeply affecting poems that take the familiar and the everyday, and turn them into something new, something profound, and often something unsettling.”

Kylie Grant, Glasgow Review of Books, 2016

PERMISSION

I’m running late for work. The baby needs
a nappy change. In the still-dark morning
I lay her on the bed. You sit up,
as if it’s your birthday and you’ve been waiting
for this one present, which I place on your lap.

You and our daughter. I watch you loving her
like you’re allowed. For this short time
of her babyhood you can baste her with love.
No talking to work out, no fighting over food
or bed times. She lies there for you

as you dangle your fingers over her tummy
and kiss her feet. ‘You’re in love with her,’
I say. ‘Who?’ you say – it’s your game.
I’m not to catch you loving her. It’s done
in private, in dark rooms, when I’m rushing out.

First published in Northwords Now, Issue 29, Spring 2015

The Lost Original is available to buy from Happenstance Press.