Two Dead Men Walk into a Room
the one I remember
holds me close to sky
juggles fire over me
and my sister contraband
stuffed petrol tank
a woman breaking
the one everyone remembers
naked and blue smiling
on a front page making
Christmas happen after
a sentence a paycheque
a small relief strapped
to a quickening heartbeat
I don’t know how I’d have lived
with you if your funeral
didn’t offer a redemption arc
you found me difficult to love
maybe too much mirror
when I remember you
I find it difficult to love
maybe too many lessons
I could have been a rib
I could have been a throat
you could have been the car
I could have been you
you could have been the cell
I could have been you
Spudding a friend who’s been away for a bit
the music is turned to 11
fills the estate with childhood
I walk past a van see a ghost
reach in a fist and say safe bro
love love and all that
heaven is knowing that your friends are back
seeing their mums smile down from three floors up
I’m sure most people don’t know
what love is what forgiveness is
I have only ever seen boys leave
the estate keeps shrinking
it seems like god is pulling
the shrink wrap off the people
who pray for him the hardest constantly
so when one comes home
we throw a party till they leave again
all the drinks spilling off the mantelpiece
the speakers popping from the bass
barbecues filling the air with smoke
we don’t care that they won’t let us into heaven
we found our own way in
______________
Jake Wild Hall is one half of Bad Betty Press, his debut pamphlet Solomon’s World was longlisted for Best Pamphlet in the 2018 Saboteur Awards. He is a multiple slam champion and his work has been published in magazines, anthologies and online journals. His second pamphlet was published in 2019 and he is currently working on his first collection.
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