When I peeled off your Lidl nappy
I saw one of my beard hairs
stuck to your right bum cheek.
I wonder what other bits
will fall off me and cling to you.
A dislike of coconut?
A love of the WWE Intercontinental Championship?
My fear of false imprisonment?
My inability to share a Share Bag of Doritos?
Maybe you’ll bite your fingernails.
Maybe you’ll have to scratch your left ear
immediately after you’ve scratched your
right ear in order to feel balanced.
Or maybe you’ll be you’re own person.
Fingers crossed.

© Carl Burkitt 2020

It was just a walk.
My feet took it in turns to be the one in front.
I was holding an open umbrella above my head
with my right hand because it was raining slightly.
Trees were stood up. Some were green.
Some were a bit green and a bit yellow.
There wasn’t much grass, to be honest.
The ground was mainly stones. Gravel, I guess.
I saw a bird, but I don’t know the bird names.
It was a black bird. But not a blackbird.
It was a bird that was black.
The air felt crisp and clean and wet.
I was one thousand years old.
The entire future was strapped to my chest.
A heart the size of a walnut punched mine
with a rhythmic strength I’ll never keep up with.
The breath of every dead relative whistled
through my ears and pushed me forward.
It was just a walk.

© Carl Burkitt 2020

On bad days
when I see someone carrying
a bunch of flowers I think,
What did you do?
But yesterday,
when a teenager bounced
past my window in the rain
cradling a collection of daffodils
like a litter of kittens, I thought,
Look what you’ve done!
My bank card dissolved
into a meadow.

© Carl Burkitt 2020

I decided to just take it easy.
I decided just to take it easy.
I just decided to take it easy.
I decided to just take it. Easy!
Easy! I decided just to take it.
I just decided to! Take it easy!
I decided to take it easy… just.

© Carl Burkitt 2020

When I forget how to trust,
I think about the piles of grandma cheques
sitting in postboxes around the country.
I think about how we lick goodwill
on the underside of our 2D Queen
and silently agree we won’t interfere.
I think about the wedges of crisp birthday cash,
loose change, priceless love letters.
I think about the pristine, first class jam sandwich
that found its way from a little town
to my seaside letterbox.

© Carl Burkitt 2020

Did you enjoy your time here?
Did you get the chance to see enough?
Did you try the fruit and vegetables?
Did you stretch your arms and legs?
Did you look at the clouds?
Did you imagine your third toe would grow that way?
Did you ever say that thing to that person (don’t lie)?
Did you ever take a step back?
Did you ever breathe?
When did you realise your skin was
not designed for you and why didn’t you tell anyone?
Did you ever truly like eating mince pies?

© Carl Burkitt 2020

Walking to the shops
to buy milk is a chance
to remember I’m alive.
If I had a milkman,
I’d order bottles of stuff
Sainsburys don’t have in stock:
liquid birdsong, full fat laughter,
the cure for the thing on your finger,
a ten count, bouncebackability,
self-esteem, Graeme’s smile,
the ability to put my socks on
without sitting down.

© Carl Burkitt 2020

The lollipop lady wrote ‘Go’ on both sides of her stick.
The ice cream man used razor blade sprinkles.
The milkman delivered four pints of PVA glue.
The postwoman shat through the letterbox.
Peppa Pig snapped George’s Trotters.
Tinky-Winky stabbed Po.
Elmo sang F is for Fuck You.
Willy Wonka kicked Charlie Bucket in the cock.
Scooby-Doo ate his own eyes.
I had to peel two plasters off my baby’s thighs.

© Carl Burkitt 2020

I am filling the boot, you are milk.
I am high notes and woof woofs.
You are Hello!
You are Hi!
You are Hiya!
I am raspberries.
You are a race car.
We are white noise.
We are a made up song.
We are every trick in the book.
We are clueless.
We know everything.

© Carl Burkitt 2020