Stopwatch by Em Power

Arts Richmond

Online - 14 September 2020

there are

not enough

seconds in

the day if i

could halt

their slow

ceaseless

march and

freeze the earth

in its rotation

i would

i would

sleep open

eyed until i

melted into

the ground

sank beneath

the grass

the crust

the crevices the mantle

the core

then i’d

come up.

i’d watch

every movie

that’s ever

moved i’d

paint my room

every colour

in existence

i’d run and

run i’d nurse

broken birds

back to health

i’d become

a jewel thief

i’d become a violinist

i’d write a novel about hangnails

i’d pose the public like action figures

i’d re-enact

romeo + juliet

with gerbils

learn the secret

to immortality

then unlearn

it out of boredom

sleep without

guilt. sleep some

more.

but the hands

keep turning.

the hands.

round and

round and

round and

              round.

from ABOUT TIME, the 2019 anthology of shortlisted entries from The Roger McGough Poetry Prize. Copies of this Anthology can be purchased for £5 including P&P from Arts Richmond.