Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Michael Laskey

TERMINUS

TERMINUS

TERMINUS

I may come back I’m afraid
as a faded floral curtain
hanging at the window of a flat
overlooking a city station
yard, the clangour and grind
of shunting, corrugated iron
fences and engine sheds.
The curtain will stay closed
always. Behind it in the room
lit by a single off-centre
ceiling light – a double bed,
twisted sheets, an implacable succession
of bodies, sagging bellies, armpits,
anuses, audible pain
the curtain will have to keep facing.
Close

TERMINUS

I may come back I’m afraid
as a faded floral curtain
hanging at the window of a flat
overlooking a city station
yard, the clangour and grind
of shunting, corrugated iron
fences and engine sheds.
The curtain will stay closed
always. Behind it in the room
lit by a single off-centre
ceiling light – a double bed,
twisted sheets, an implacable succession
of bodies, sagging bellies, armpits,
anuses, audible pain
the curtain will have to keep facing.

TERMINUS

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère