Poem of the Week - ‘Tonight, Matthew...’ by Rachel Piercey

Tonight, Matthew…

I will ascend the possibilities 
of myself: my indifferent health,
my tendency to baulk, the temper
I was warned would hold me back.

There’s a kind light for most things,
Matthew, and though I recognise 
my limits, for three minutes 
of a single night this beam is mine. 

Beyond the spot-lit constellating dust 
it’s dark. But for a song, 
I am this wedge of sky’s brightest point. 
And if I cry, at least it will be stars.

Anyone remember ‘Stars in their Eyes’? Clearly Rachel Piercey was thinking much more deeply about it than I ever did, as can be seen in this week’s excellent Poem of the Week. Her pamphlet Rivers Wanted, released last year on The Emma Press is full of similarly witty and incisive that cover topics of love, identity and home.