Father Balancing on a Dial by Lakshya Ravikumar

Arts Richmond

Online - 27 September 2020

Leathery soaps and talcum powder,

sifting and settling on mute alarms.

Eau de Cologne and brandy and a split lip spilling out,

colouring the sky wine.

Pressed silk shirts and the type of wood whisky ages in,

the unfolding of palms and the scrunching of notes.

Liquor bottles crashing in time with the grandfather clock,

laughing in time with Buddha.

Perched on a dial,

we sigh together,

singing for the hours drifting

into smoke-filled cellars where you halt,

our hands becoming the ones on a clock.

Your night shifts carve out

the creases on her face,

they dip her side of the bed,

your weight is never balanced.

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.