IT'S OUR DANCE Poem by Brendan Cleary

for Lorna
Every Sunday
I play Nina Simone's
‘My baby just cares for me'
& with a different flower
in your hair every week
you spring out from the bar
& I leave the mixing desk
& we dance with our hangovers,
yes we dance around the bar
& last week we ended up
outside briefly on Lewes Road
in the petrol hazes
& we even waltzed
out to the beer garden
& everybody smiles
when we dance together
to ‘My baby just cares for me'
& for a few precious minutes
it's as if we have all swallowed the moon
& everyone is lighter
& the world might not ever end.