“Solitude”

By Reece Merrifield

I

Climb the stairway that moves with
the seasons; a girl in a geometric dress
weeps plastic tears for the plain people
plagued by a banal bacterium.

II

Fairy-tale hullabaloo is heard at the end
of an unlit hallway; adults stuck in cots
peek through the bars and imagine
mirror-balls lighting their path.

III

Snowflakes dampen the smoke signals
sent not with the necessity to be saved
but to become the saviour. Taking advantage,
a wall of angels now protects the trees.

IV

I have met my opposite shoelace
and we have crossed paths several
times, yet our shoe lives on the left foot
of a child yet to be taught about knots.

Reece Merrifield is a third-year Literature student from Chester, England, who also currently edits the University’s magazine ‘Pandora’s Box’ and the small independent press, ‘Foxtrot Uniform’.