THERE ARE TOO MANY COINCIDENCES TO YOUR MEETING JEROME

for SR

I wanted to lose my virginity. His motorcycle
would not start. He was a boy who lived

in the same village as I. He gave me a job
as his secretary. The elevator broke.

I can remember those numbers 3 and 5.
The fibowhatty sequence? The photos I found

in the grass verge were torn. I did a jigsaw.
It was Jerome and his wife. I started his motorcycle.

All of this is too made up to be true,
but it happened. What are you going to believe?

Years passed. That much can't be ignored.
He was a terrible fuck. Lies don't make it worse.

LONDON ROAD BY JACQUES ROUBAUD

London Road
across from The White Lion
a public lavatory
closed
when the station closed

By the entrance to the subway
to Heeley station
also closed

LOVE POEM BY BILL MANHIRE

If you asked me
to choose, I'd hesitate
some.

Love. Not there.
Unseen.
Being near

when your limbs bend
and soften
like sand under seawater.

I'll talk the ocean bed
to you. A tentacle that grips.
The abyss.