Sestina
by and published in Edition Two of Pomegranate
I’d like to learn your language through a kiss;
I want to touch you darkly through a glass,
And waste afternoons before you go
Discussing Scottish music in the sun –
Sebastian and Belle, states we’ve been in –
I’ve never tried a state so shiver-sweet.
Your lips are bruised, and reddened, and so sweet
And close to mine; you teach me with a kiss
The language that you’re used to speaking in.
It’s beautiful, like shards of broken glass
All glittering and brilliant in the sun.
You promise brilliant things before you go.
And I remember once, quite long ago,
A European summer, shimmer-sweet;
The heat, and stinging blisters, and the sun,
And sultry August evenings, when I kissed
Some other boy, and drinking my first glass
Of legal alcohol; I drank it in
Like water, all of it; I drank him in –
a fool, but aren’t we all? He let me go
Back with him when we left. I took his glass.
We wandered through the city to a suite
At some mid-priced hotel. Another kiss,
And touch, and more. We stayed there till the sun
Had risen past the trees. He was the son,
I think, of some small diplomat, or something in
The business world; he woke me with a kiss.
He tasted of white wine. He had to go,
He said, and clutched my hand, and left the suite.
The only proof he’d touched me was his glass.
You’ll never know how you hold me like a glass.
And as we sit and watch the setting sun,
There will be time for us, despite the sweet
Sharp foreign things, awaiting you back in
Another country; time before you go
To talk of kings and cabbages, and kiss.
There’ll be more kisses underneath that sun,
and other boys, and glasses; I’ll be in
A saner state; now go – this is too sweet.
Bethany Startin
Bethany Startin is eighteen years old and is currently studying English & Creative Writing at Warwick University. She rarely writes poetry and has never been published anywhere before, so this is all very thrilling for her. Her favourite things in the world include mismatched socks, European boys, and fictional incest, and at least two of these frequently appear in her (mostly unfinished) novels. One day, she is going to be the world’s most awesome literary agent.