Martha Sprackland - The Letter
by and published in Edition Twelve of Pomegranate
love, i want to warn you
to be confident
to fold pockets of my hair into your fists
and to drag
a little
i want to tell you to leave
a cursory note by the phone
Gone out
be bk sometime
and a scribbled X
tailing towards the door
because you were in a hurry
i want to ask you
to roll over in the morning
to kiss me whilst yawning
and then to clank away to the kitchen
like a bag of spanners
leaving me
lips still puckered
against empty air
i want you to hold my hand
and not quite hold it
not quite close your fingers
over my knuckles
and i want you to
change the channel
when i’m watching what i want to watch
to dance with other people in bars
whilst i hold your drink
to read this poem
and half-smile, raise your eyebrows
and put it down on the coffee table
later i want to find it
crumpled
on the back
stock cubes
lightbulb 4 bedrm
milk
bread
scrawled.
Martha Sprackland
Martha Sprackland has been writing for more than ten years, and was twice a winner of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. She is (finally) about to graduate from Lancaster University where she reads English Literature and Creative Writing. She has had her work published in Iota, Brittle Star, Agenda, Magma and the Cadaverine, and is editor of Cake magazine.