from a haunting
three sonnets
by Nathan Thompson
meet me in the morning
in the style of going forwards sunrise
over your covered tracks trees are starting
to believe again in songs and whispers
the visitors’ book says I’ve been here before
delicate letters in the crevices
lope across the page they stick to your window
rubbing your eyes stars as echoes
clarity insists on bloodhounds veering
towards saints she is stained glass
aspirations of presence I wonder why
the keys have fallen out of your strong grip
and the police photographer follows slowly
wringing his hands ‘innocence progressing’
a still then leave off explanations
on your nerve
ideas of series we date your letters
to our moods Paris it is summer
February over Moscow we keep
tight to your paths sweet-shops close their doors
it will be fortuitous if your poem
lists galleries where we emptied flowers
hopeful for music but it is quiet here
stuck out of sight of the first picture
you bite the peel from a cool apple ‘good luck
with the circus’ we will be too late I fear
if I tell you my sides are forgeries
you gather their disparate profiles
aboard the yacht it is possible
October 1st you last wrote how we laughed
two paintings of a window box
I’m tuned to a month’s time passes can ‘I’
ever really be ‘us’ you are here me too
three globes of porcelain imitating
fruit today the animals have left the zoo
behind their pronouns peek out from
songs imagining ‘very far’ is
something from the back of the sofa but look!
a monkey’s found my copy of Shakespeare
it’s your present! a year ago discreetly
an item in this catalogue just as
half-inviting turned into a portrait
playing in the park taking a cast
of a tree leafing does that mean autumn
or spring to lick your fingers for direction
Nathan Thompson grew up in Cornwall and studied at the University of Exeter, where he later lectured part time in Musicology. He now lives in Jersey. Recent work has appeared in Green Integer Review, Stride Magazine, and A Samizdat for Lee Harwood (Artery Editions). A first collection, the arboretum towards the beginning, was published by Shearsman in September 2008.
