Church Road by Max Lemaitre Nugent

I walk past 17 restaurants on Tuesday night, and another 16 on Friday, on the same stretch.

It's just a matter of crossing, I think.

You wouldn't recognise the amber portal beam which moves the shadows

Like a tall, bright beggar.

Past the pane, you could imagine yourself a prawn,

rounded, roasting above the diners

a marine scimitar foregrounding the sheets of kitchen heat.

There are writers and fresh lamb

Searching for cud and conversation

(primary soothers of ruminants after eating)

I strain wretchedly around long fingered windows,

smear the glass clean with lousy loose sleeves, and

try to lick up the smell of seafruit.

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Max is a 17 year old poet and college student from Brighton, UK. He was commended in the Foyle Young Poets Award in 2024, and is studying A-Levels in French, Maths and Geography, with an EPQ on utopian literature and urban planning.