‘A suburban night’ by Keith Payne

It was wormed into her from the nest
this sense of living close together
of ‘come in out of that and lie down’
at the hearth where the anthracite glows.
Till bedtime and the dark of the stair,
the bannister slid hand over hand
but then she’d turn and trace back the night
and curling the soft soles of her feet
walk barefoot the garden in the rain.

From issue #7: autumn/winter 2018

About the Author
Keith Payne is the author of nine collections of poetry in translation and original poetry, most recently Building the Boat (Badly Made Books, 2023), as featured on BBC Radio 4’s The Essay, and Whales and Whales (Skein Press, 2024), a translation of Luisa Castro’s poetry. He was John Broderick Writer in Residence 2021-22 and Cork City Eco Poet in Residence 2023. Awarded an Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary Award in 2016, he curates the Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Poetry Exchange Ireland/Galicia.