'How Could I Not' Poem by Marty McKenna

how could i not
permanently turn the chair
to this window.

all busses and birds;
i trace the walk i give these streets
and catch the bay window

of the day-room above this city centre.
i think of her, how she clawed my gut,
left tracks as you were in spain;

this afternoon wine
tastes like a summer day
as spring softly opens.

i feel a lot
of the same emotions.
now i'm the lucky one,

sat high in the permanently turned chair
by the twenty first floor window.

a name came up in work today,
it sparks more memories
of sunsets, snow and the song
by laura marling, he played me.

‘i'll never forget this' i said
and he replied ‘i'll never forget
the purple sunset you showed me'.

first published in 'feral'
appears in the chapbook 'silent stigma, loud leaf'