I don’t know much
about ballroom dancing
but, as I understand it,
you have one person who leads
and another person who follows.
If it takes two to tango
but only one’s in charge,
I’d like to be the one who follows.
I want to let my leader free
and see the shapes they invent
and the space they fill
and let them paint
the example I desperately need
across a well-polished floor.

© Carl Burkitt 2021

When a digital watch
displays the seconds on your wrist
it’s hard not to think
it’s timing your every move.
Like how long you take peeling potatoes
or waiting for the green man
before crossing the road
or the number of seconds
from the first drip of a wee to the last.
What if it counts the length of your bad thoughts?
What if it tots up the hours you’ve spent
saying pacific instead of specific?
I don’t want to know how often I think
about the time we’ve missed together
or promising to wipe away that mould
compared to actually doing anything about it.

© Carl Burkitt 2021

A white toothed picket fence
stood stubborn,
gated lips locked shut,
gossip-drenched grass
desperate to meet curious feet.

© Carl Burkitt 2021

There’s a funeral on TV for a character called Carl.
The tiny church is only half full and the man
doing a reading barely knows the deceased.
He spends some time repeating his fear
of dying in the town he hates.
The only person crying is a baby and her mum
doesn’t care. She answers her phone
to swear at a man called Shaun.
One of the scene’s punchlines
is the description of Carl’s ungraceful suicide.
To spare anymore awkwardness
the wife of the reader sings Danny Boy
in a silly voice through red lipstick.
The 12 people in the crowd stand and join in.
Their faces fill with smiles and laughter.
Carl is in an open casket.
He is old and has a good head of hair.

© Carl Burkitt 2021

I have no doubt
my cheeks will blush
with an I’m terribly sorry
while I scream towards the light
on my death bed.

© Carl Burkitt 2021

Knowing that people across the world
use their time to stare at dead stars –
some spending thousands on telescopes
to get closer to the flaming corpses –
or pour hours into poems and lyrics
dedicated to their ancient mystique
or memorise their names and shapes
or buy them for a loved one’s birthday,
I feel less worried
about how often I still lie awake at night
thinking about you.

© Carl Burkitt 2021

A sexy bloke in blue running shorts
carrying a pack of chicken breasts.
A builder yawning
over a wheelbarrow of concrete at his feet.
A wide awake butcher in her van
eating a bag of ready salted crisps.
A broken white plastic fork
lying jobless in a puddle.
A cold lonely bus stop
wondering if people will visit.
A deflated balloon of a man
standing at the window
relearning what to do.

© Carl Burkitt 2021

You know those
Rousing • Heartfelt • Exciting
three word descriptions
Inspiring • Feel-good • Romantic
Netflix put under the titles
Provocative • Witty • Inquisitive
of their TV shows and films?
Offbeat • Riveting • Funny
It can be tiring
Deadpan • Quirky • Cynical
thinking what three words
Dark • Emotional • Tearjerker
they would use for you.
Intimate • Hidden gem • Drama

© Carl Burkitt 2021

I was watching a man
standing on the pavement
who didn’t know I was watching.
He was wearing a long,
autumn leaf brown coat
and holding a clipboard
in his black leather gloved hands.
He was doing that thing
when you open your mouth
and slowly flick your tongue
against the inside of your top front teeth.
An ambulance drove past slowly
and did that thing
when they fire their alarm for just one second
and the man jumped like he was falling
and caught my eyes looking at him
from my top floor flat.
He waved at me with a force
you’d wave at a dead loved one in a dream.

© Carl Burkitt 2021