‘Experience’ by Gareth Culshaw There was a time inside a lettuce leaf I found the crinkles enjoyable to walk. I traipsed songs lost in headphones found trees upside down in winter. Heard birds in the yawn of a cat and caught a train for a bus for a hike. It led me to this, a place of rock and stone. Nothingness sits outside a window until you leave the vehicle and walk. Things appear in the nostril before your hands have left the crust. Your soup stays on the lips, cola burps a crow, and crisps wear away fence posts. But each walk brings you closer, closer to the life you live inside. The life you live before you found this place in the crunch of a carrot one salad afternoon. Watching a sun biscuit-dunk into a mountain wait for the warmth to leave you behind then see your fingerprints smudged on the moon, the end of your nose. Meet the Poet! Gareth Culshaw lives in North Wales. He has 4 poetry collections, most recent by Hendon Press called Memory Tree. He is a winner of Backlash Best Book Award 2022. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Like this:Like Loading... Published by fragmentedvoices A small, independent press based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, and Prague, the Czech Republic View all posts by fragmentedvoices