View from the Gallery
Seeing her, from a distance, at the opera,
as she leans, in full ball-gown attire,
into the pit to speak with the conductor,
he can feel the famous aura of desire
about to be unleashed on someone other
(though he doubts it'll be the maestro). Pity
for that next victim, a future brother
in the only true excitement this city
can offer, floods his otherwise gall-hard
veins. Resisting the binocular route
to expose her face, he too leans forward,
and trusts the naked eye to aim and shoot
a sequence of thoughts she'd think quite unrefined.
Trip and fall in, give my poor heart a tonic,
is the first of these, and the least unkind;
Break a leg, darling, the least ironic.
Nick Cooke has had around 75 poems published, in a variety of outlets including Acumen, Agenda, Ink Sweat & Tears, the High Window Journal and Dream Catcher, along with around 35 poetry reviews and literary articles. In 2016 his poem ‘Tanis’ won a Wax Poetry and Art competition. In addition, he has published several short stories and completed many novels, theatre plays and screenplays for both film and TV.
Pulsebeat Poetry Journal 