Separation – Colin Campbell Analysis

Separation

a card arrives 
“happy birthday fondest love” 
i stand it on the fridge 
whilst half a world away 
she has forgotten that she sent it 
but recalls the usual things 
peeling the vegetables making the bed sweeping dusting 
later her head nods over a page and 
the once-friendly words turn away and hide

thin rain oozes from the mossy tiles 
and the bare brown trees stare through the afternoon 
and drip she tries to remember what it is 
that she must thaw for tea 
and the kitchen silent as lino will not tell her

dealt from a well-worn pack of tidy habits 
(what ought to be done rather than the needful) 
hours are laid out in patterns on the day’s thin fabric 
(so much is to do with the turn 
of one moment to cover the last) 
whilst indifferent greedy thieving Time 
gnaws the afternoon

rubbing a hole in…