I am living my life online
while a neighbour
quietly climbs the walls
and my mother misses
seeing me very much.
You arrive in the pub
with sketches and poems,
a sprawl of images and ideas
you’re trying to reign in
while your partner
slowly goes mad. The drink
doesn’t help either of us
and declaring visionary verse
over the folk club’s blues
brings only raised eyebrows
and friendly derision.
How hard it is to be loyal
to friends who don’t fit in
in the village, to ideas
of love in this world.
© Rupert M Loydell
Illustration Nick Victor