TALL GRASS

two minutes past the last     century     /      and     the     knife and     fork are in the wrong place

/     but i find a honey     in the white     space underneath     /     when dad tells

me to swallow bees     /     even if     they keep getting spat     out as     wasps     /     the willow tree

which grows around us pleads     for me to look before i undress     onto the plate     /     onto the garden

lost     between planets     /     the place my hand first felt another boy     /     in a playfight which sung

lullabies     like tall grass which cowered over the tops of our heads     /     as a feeling with its name

stolen     /      set over the sun     /     seconds bigger than us     and bigger     than me     but seconds

must     /     stop     /     negotiating with minutes     hoping decades will be born from something     my mum

doesn’t believe in      because      boys cannot love other     /     boys     and i cannot     /     leave

dinner     /      until     i have been served     /

Lucas Reilly is currently studying English and Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln and plans to continue in a Master's degree in Creative Writing. Their poetry is focused on growing up queer, and the casual beauty that can be found in all the chaos.