Streetlights dim and patchy on a mess of jeeps and bins
a blurred shape bumbles towards me,
through the misted glass I trace its fugitive path,
hulked against walls, dipping into shadows.
I grip the wheel, squash back into bucket seat,
chilly car makes my perfect hide… perfect enough?
Face out of streetlight glare, heart thumping, I shiver,
risk a wipe of windscreen – I need to track the beast.
I’m seen! The edgeless shape reacts, a definite jolt of head,
drilling through my disguise, dark camouflage,
it’s the swivel of a gun to its target,
the beam of searchlight to quarry…
This ignominious street, nowhere place,
caught on bin day, becomes drama-noir,
my dream-horror in dangerous flesh, my first
live encounter with a bear.
(from a workshop with Matt Howard at Ledbury Festival)
Verses of Five 