Doomscrolling
Yes today has been the bluntest
cross legged at the kitchen window
the same view pressing on it
the sills are deep with flies ticking
consonants of small forms that
slowed against the glass then
shrunk their cursive rasp
at my fingernails only the fridge
hums now meanwhile the sky
is faultless with swifts I watch
vital parts of myself detach
lumber to the river where
they cease I squeeze greenfly
from the bud of every rose
in all my prosperous beds
until my fingers change colour
Meatspace
Summer the same long day eeking out
commit everything to its little frame
like a lepidopterist take care
don’t smudge the summers wings
or scuzz its furry abdomen
sometimes rain is just a noise a pack
of flies at their articles unpicks itself
until it smithereens in the puddles
a panic of peg dolls their wet round heads gulp
push sand around the house let it build
in the corners ‘til you shake it out
down the gutters no *you’re* raining
and the beach a stuffed mouth at dusk
clouds over it the colour of pulpy corpses
there’s dolphins in the bay maybe a seal
you want to throw a mug against the wall
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Luke Palmer's second pamphlet, In all my books my father dies, was released in 2021 by The Red Ceilings Press. He also writes novels for young adults, and Grow (Firefly, 2021) is longlisted for the 2022 Carnegie Medal and Branford Boase Award.