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20 September 2023

The NS Poem: chorus

A new poem by Andrew McMillan.

By Andrew McMillan

now the house has two alarms      mine trilling
loudly by my ear like an excited lover
and then a second   duller      whispering up
through the floorboards from his bedroom to mine

it had been ours   that room   that sound   but now
it is another country    a new dawn
chorus    and the dog running back and forth
between us   like a messenger of peace

and hadn’t that same bell rung earlier
somewhere inside me   urging wake up   wake up

Andrew McMillan’s poetry collections include “Pandemonium” (Jonathan Cape). His debut novel, “Pity”, is due to be published in 2024

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This article appears in the 20 Sep 2023 issue of the New Statesman, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers