There’s a new wooden toilet seat
in the pub’s men’s room and I’m realising
I am starting to notice things again.
Like, how Two Halves Pete is called Two Halves Pete
because he always order to half pints of ale
or how the hat rack in the corner of the room is
made from old coat hangers
or how the barman has a tattoo that I want.
The say antidepressants can flatten you out
and that was the reason I put of Sertraline
for more years than was safe for me.
But I can see the beauty in tarmac again,
the way it looks like a belt
I will wear to a special occasion one day
celebrating my adult son,
or the tongue of a giraffe – our favourite animal.

Carl Burkitt 2025