“New Ideas” by Darren Caffrey

Without child
We loan out books from the library
To be read by the nightstand
These loans take all shapes
But their size is always the same
Too large to take home with us
They read as they stand
In order of height
And by name if they are all the same height
We like all of them the same
And when people are talking about days out
Their kids with them
We mention a little light reading
And they roll their eyes back
Into the details of their lives

But kids never stop laughing
Until they are crying to know more than you

–

A decision is made to write instead
Books are everywhere
It can’t be so hard to put something together
Maybe something about the life of a bisexual male
And his long-term partner who can’t always find a date
Amongst the coupled men and women
Whose children will be forever laughing at them
In the next room

–

In their dreams they take out bits of each character
And make a whole new story from them

In reality they curl up next to one another
and look at where they have come from

Reading aloud the meditations of a yogi
Their sacrifice lasting at the centre corkscrews

Fleshy undertones defy classification
The fast have already drawn down what they began with

We are bringing an open book with us
Reading when we can

Opening it just to have it within us
Should life take that direction
Where we know how to
By simple touch
At hand