There’s a chunk out of my left shin
from a log or slide or swing from a dead park
I can’t remember. There’s a white scar
on my big toe from a glass bomb stacking
the dishwasher in the break of EastEnders
or Heartbeat or Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night
Takeaway I can’t remember. There’s a flash
in my skull from a pogo stick or a tennis racquet
or the sword of a 13-year-old pirate I can’t remember.
There’s a fallen bridge over an ancient stream
leading to a rejected kiss I can’t remember.
There’s a front door in my chest to a house
with the bedroom of a goalkeeper who stood
by my side until the air was stolen from his legs
and I can’t remember what I can’t remember.

Carl Burkitt 2024

Written while listening to ‘I’m On Your Side’ by Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats.