Rose Betts
Park Avenue by Angelique Neumann
When it is autumn in
Hampstead, I forget about all the summer swims
Laughing on the balcony
Eating and painting on [?]
I even forget the steeple and the library
And the party where they played tangled up in blue
I think only of you
Of the darkness and you
The darkness and you
Darkness and you
The darkness and you have become one for me but you must think I don’t think of you at all
You must think I’ve patched up the you shaped hole in my soul with chewing gum and dried lavender
That I can drive by your house without holding my breath, like a child passing a cemetery
I float home after all the snails have gone to bed
Key into the empty lock then out again
Feel around for the switch and remind myself loneliness is a perennial condition blooming again and again in the rain