Low Edges - Helen Mort

Lowedges

And if those doors to other worlds exist

you’ll find them here: Lowedges, where the city

smooths its skirt down in the name of modesty,

picks up its jacket, calls it a night. Here, bichon frises

chase their tails all morning on the astroturf,

a biker lets go of his handlebars and doesn’t fall,

a woman rolls the afternoon into a cigarette

and smokes it silently. Forget the Cornish sea,

the top of Nevis with its trapdoor light . . .

If you’re to leave this world, you’ll leave it here:

this salvaged Friday, shop lights dimmed. Look up –

how easily the rain bisects the sky.

Helen Mort was born in Sheffield. She is a 5 times winner of the Foyle Young Poets award, and she received an Eric Gregory Award from The Society of Authors in 2007. Her first collection ‘Division Street’ was shortlisted for the Costa Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize.