has more than one body
but only one way of growing.
He is degrafted
into two and three and.
When his heart misses a beat,
Barebones passes over into a new body
which confronts him
like an undiscovered coastline
snagging a forest of cloud.
Cack-handed though he is,
Barebones copies maps to perfection
composing every turn of the shore.
Barebones enjoys games of chance:
his favourite bingo number is legs eleven.
He lies awake beside his beloved
surprised by each new breath.
Barebones writes from right to left
to avoid smudging.
Carefully, carefully lifting his hand
from the paper at the start of each line.
Jason Ioannou lives in suburban Manchester. He has had poems published previously in Stride.
andotherpoems.com 