broken
after the party
where something
had happened
something in a
cupboard some permission
something that
made him think his luck was in
he walks her
home in the rain
walking together
alone
up the long slow
hill of Ashby Lane
him wanting his
end of the unspoken bargain
to begin her wandering to the end of her skin
a passing car’s
headlights picks them out
the sudden
change of size then gone
then the slow
turning turning away
of the unseen
driver’s eyes
suddenly she too
wants it done with
she can’t
explain can’t put it into words
the submission
she’s falling
under the wheels again
letting him lead
her on
towards the slow
uncoiling of humiliation
where she has to
pay out enough rope
something is to
be given taken
through a gate down a
garden path
half-lit under
trees down on her already
tattered coat spread
beneath them
underneath them the
cold slippery cement
of somebody’s
property somebody’s dream
some other
family’s sleeping lamentable darkness
they sell
themselves each other cheaply
as broken
his eyes are shut
tight hers are wide open starless
