Sometimes listening closely to sirens in London, the context changes into a warm New York evening where the sash windows have been raised and there’s animated talk coming from upstairs and a cat’s slinking down the fire escape––trashcans are being shuffled against the sidewalk and water’s running down the brickwork next door. Dusk is falling in huge flakes of gold. I eat a brioche, crumbs tumbling like meteorites across the Times. It’s 6pm and I’m pulling on my jeans, detaching gum from my pocket, ratcheting my fly and running out the door to meet you at a reading.
Claire Potter is an Australian poet living in London. She is the author of two chapbooks and a first full-length collection, Swallow, published in 2010 (Five Islands Press, Melbourne).