Peter Lilly: Poems

He says he chased her away so now he falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out when he started drowning her voice with whisky he can no longer afford. So he drinks cheep cider and falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out with his money making schemes, and his time inside was too long for her to wait. So he clouds his memory with heavy liquid and falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out with all the responsibilities he pushed to her side of the bed, and when he was released she didn't try to hide her impatient infidelity. He ignored it with liquor, yet no bottles were smashed until the last time she slammed that door. Now he wants to stay nauseous and he falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out and she left. That empty crib and shelves full of gifts and photos were too much not to burn. He hates the drink but he loves the way it's killing him, even so, part of him still does not w...

I am disappearing, down into the linen that caresses my body as my mind criss-crosses, chasing through meandering crises of nocturnal fabrication. I am full of hope, and dread... and whispers. Soft chalk runs out before the lesson is learnt. I was truant anyway, day dreaming of summer. I am disappearing into something, yet I still see my shuffling footprints, scoring a perforation through this continuum; a seam to tear and a void to feel expanding. Fields of livestock and houses of television faces, all lost in the gap that is left. It is potential hidden in false humility. I am disappearing, if I fight it I sever the umbilical cord that attaches me to my Father. It is an artery, with flow too fast to cauterise. I would disappear in the dirty needles and forgotten-butt fires. Lucid, as I feel my significance hang its head from my skin in shame...