Contemporary Poetry 2016

 

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Winner: Alex Osborne, Kew

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If You Were Here

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what would I say

if you were here

 

I’d tell you

about the olives I picked

from the tree 

in the garden 

and cured in salt water

 

I'd ask after your dog

if she was happy

with my old mattress

as her bed

if she needed food

or blankets

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I'd apologise

for drinking your wine

replace it with the beer I brewed

and named for you

forgive me for drinking that

too

 

I'd say

I missed you

speak passion in your ear

remind you of that night

and how you whispered my name

into the dark

 

I'd wonder

how you managed to reach me

how you tiptoed into where

collecting dust

I had hidden

 

but if you were here

on your side of my small bed

I don't think I would say

a thing

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