'I Excuse Myself From You Tonight' Poem by Marty McKenna

i excuse myself from you tonight.

there is low cloud on the fields
as the sway carries these hands
between this and the next stop.
i've fallen for the other, make eye contact;
i'm exalted by the sight. i recognise
my place by trees; wonder their age,
fall further into his gaze and swell.

i'm far from home, so is she; but the night
we shared together takes me back.

my belly fills with poison, i force more down,
i wonder about your cap, your trackies,
what goes on underneath. i can't see you now
that the signal has gone, switched off
by debt, my lack of willing to increase the sting.

first published in 'ink, sweat & tears'
appeared in the chapbook 'gently but a dream'