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.
