Poetry Thursday - To All Laments and Purposes by Sarah Howe

To all laments and purposes

By Sarah Howe

Against platinum birches

I want nothing here [but you].

We have trees at home. Shall I

wing you the courtyard fountain’s

midnight palaver, to lull

the list of your lonely sleep?

Love is wicker, then water;

marriage an avenue of

limes, but not the bitter kind.

I’m stood at the north extreme:

the reflecting pool unrolls

a shadow world of clouds &

yews, another far orchard,

enamelled pavilions.

It’s shaking hardly at all.

My nights are aloner too.

Winner of the 2016 TS Eliot Prize, Sarah Howe is hosting Poet in the City's 10th annual Poetry Breakfast today, to mark National Poetry Day. Coffee, croissants and the very best of contemporary poetry, at the Bloomsbury Hotel. Wish I could be there! Watch out for it next year...