Closer to perfection

Helen Rickerby

A tall, red column
drawn on the whiteboard
sitting on a desk
towering over the sea

An isthmus
is the place where two oceans
try to meet
but can't
quite

Between the oceans
on the isthmus

is the lighthouse

He and she, she and he

This film is full of metaphors
for cock

As well as the lighthouse
there are guns
and knives
keys and cars
and fingers

She is a pair of handcuffs
she is a tenuous grip
she is the underground
the garden
the petal storm

She thinks it's snowing

Whether he is the killer or not
he has been
some dark places, some dripping basements
damp alleys

It seeps inside her

Her name is Avery
because she is caged
You can do that in movies –

things that would be silly
in real life

She gathers words
wherever she goes
she follows their trail
picking them up
pocketing

meow Virginia love

isthmus

dis articulate

The more you cut away
the closer you get
to perfection

When she is taken
to the lighthouse
she is not entirely
unwilling

She has no words

she is wearing
his coat
his gun
his

and then
the key to unlock
the gate
the door

the handcuff