Reminder
I have only just buried my father. As
I’m leaving the cemetery, my mobile rings. It’s my boss wanting the report I’ve
forgotten.
Elegy
Looking more closely, I see that the
white flowers on the green are patterned to form the words of a poem, though
this can only be seen from a certain angle. My daughter holds my hand to
comfort me.
Bar
I exchange
a brief smile with the man playing piano. He’s about the same age as me and I
find myself wishing I’d learnt to play an instrument. It would compensate for
the life I’ve led and all the ones I haven’t.
Decades Later
Walking
down Oxford Street with my daughter, I point up to a high curved window on a
corner: ‘That was where I used to teach English as a Foreign Language,’ I say,
realising as I’m saying it that I’m misremembering and pointing at the wrong
building, but not wanting to spoil the moment by correcting myself.
Promise
Just
as I’m about to take the train home, the gruff, old man I’ve been waiting for
all day long turns up. Now I can row you across the lake, he says with a
surprisingly disarming smile – all the way to that island, he adds, pointing
into the distance. But by this time, I’m hungry, there are storm clouds
gathering, and just a few moments ago a woman whispered to me that in reality
the island was no more than a tiny rock, on which the old man and I would
barely fit.
Trunks
While
walking in the forest, I came upon a young man stripping by the side of the
path, until he was in his bathing trunks. I felt envious. I would have loved an
outdoor swim myself, even though there was a nip in the air. But where was he
going to swim? He stepped off the path into some swampy water I hadn’t noticed
before because it merged so perfectly with the darkness of the trees. As he
began his breaststroke, the water released a sulphurous stink, but still I
would have joined him if only I’d had my trunks with me.
Ian Seed is the author of several collections of poetry and translation, the most recent of which are Night Window (Shearsman Books, 2024), The Dice Cup (from the French of Max Jacob) (Wakefield Press, 2022), and Operations of Water (Knives, Forks & Spoons Press, 2020). His poetry and essays have appeared in number of anthologies, including Dreaming Awake: New Contemporary Prose Poetry from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom (MadHat Press, 2023), The Encounter: A Handbook of Poetic Practice (Parlor Press, 2022), and The Forward Book of Poetry 2017 (Faber&Faber). See www.ianseed.co.uk