Pillow Talk
By John Fuller
Wondered Knob-Cracker at Stout-Heart:
‘Are you timed by your will, does your pulse
List credit, ready to slam like a till?
Can you keep it up?’
Growled Beard Splitter to Smug:
‘Your forces delay, bibbing at Northern walls
While snow drives rifts between, barring the way.
I am sufficient.’
Pleaded Knob-Cracker with Fail-Safe:
‘You’ve boarded at last, your hands in your pockets,
Hat on the back of your head and flags up the mast.
Can’t I come with you?’
Nodded Beard-Splitter to Sorrowful:
‘The islands are prisons and no one returns,
No power or possessions where my rule is.
I will make you mine.’
Copyright Credit: John Fuller, “Pillow Talk” from Collected Poems, published by Chatto & Windus. Used by permission of The Random House Group Limited, http://www.randomhouse.co.uk.
Source: Collected Poems (1996)