A knock-off Erling Haaland Manchester City kit
is stretched over his blue dressing gown-style jumper
like the Cookie Monster has been forced to watch
a football team he knows nothing about
by his father-in-law. His hands are two packets
of blueberries. His legs are blue raspberry ice pops.
His eyes are oceans, or something less poorly described.
I think about his veins when I’m bored, the way they
sit high under his skin, his blood desperate for me
to see it, to tell me not to go to work tomorrow
and to sit with him on our humpback whale sofa
and practice taking penalties in the living room.

Carl Burkitt 2024