No Escape Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Here, she is
in her favourite summer frock
that clasps & clings
to each curve

innocently displaying her
figure
when the sun shines through it.
She is unaware of this now
(totalty mortified later)

'Oh my God! I'm practically naked! '
The sunlight almost bites
...it's so bright!

***

To him there is only darkness
& the lightness of their laughter
as people run from him &~
awkwardly stupidly hide from him.

He moves towards each
supressed laugh or nervous giggle.
Someone is only
a breath away.

He finds himself
playing Blind Man's BLuff
& honing in on
the slight catch in their breathing.
The barbaque hisses
& sizzles.

Lips kiss him
a tongue explores his
very being
fingertips caresse
his mind
remove his blind.

The sunlight almost
slaps him across the face.
'Ouch! ' he winces.
'Hi! ' she says.
' I wanted to be caught..
...and I wanted you to catch me! '

The next kiss is lost
in the crowd's oh!
& his & her laughter.
And then...the film
runs out.

I play back the scene
(again & again) .
It's hard to believe you
loved me
then
&
don't

love me now!
Trapped in a past
forever happening

I burn the film
& escape back into the reality
of now
as carol singers sing
outside off key out of tune

horribly
The First Noel
& ring the bell.
'Go to hell! '
I yell
and rewind the film
in my mind.