haul/between

i was scared to make this poem /
treat them right / they never
came close to meeting in life
so how to present them dead /
i’d have them here retold as bodiless
friends with shears / with god /
dear ghosts / may you bring these
families together in death /
may your souls fold up the long haul
between us / here is the pen in my breast
tearing space / the page a sorry place
to compress two lives into one / undie
come feed and sate me now /
these twin forces racing away / i /
a stateless flagpole

Cai Draper is a poet living in Norwich. His work appears or is forthcoming in publications from the Ekphrastic Review, Lighthouse journal, leslie magazine, Bad Betty Press, Lammergeier & more. He organises free poetry workshops at the Book Hive. @DraperCai