Imogen Cassels: 'Clerkenwell'

all the people were out,
moving and observing one another;
    during this—week spent sleeping
    for the light. the suggestion
    of a natural phrase;

a vulnerable thing to have
to stay still, and easy to be careless
    of the things you don't believe in;
    the body, the possible love
    of it.

I have no desires. A trick
of the what, and hollowness
    of the yet-breathing ribs, with their old
    ordinary dash sidelong
    into hell

which now shapes suddenly and rather
towards remnants of forest reserves
what once had been a bird
the hot weather coming

Imogen Cassels's most recent pamphlet is Chesapeake.