Rue Du Coq d’Or, Paris
by Christopher Barnes

Seven in the morning.
In her confinement
This feather bed cows.
Lurking mildew and soot
Hassles her bronchus.
Damp, tinker’s pot black
Streams down the window wall.

She’s sensate,
Radioluminescence at the glass
From sore red sun,
And gaunt, frail to the bones.

Rue Du Coq d’Or, Paris, seven in the morning.
He spick-and-span elf-boy sleeps
On the twists of the mattress.

Tomorrow she’ll grapple laundry
Foisting on a study bloom.

Christopher Barnes was the recipient of a 1998 Northern Arts writers award. In July 2000 he read at Waterstones bookshop to promote the anthology Titles Are Bitches. Christmas 2001 he debuted at Newcastle's famous Morden Tower doing a reading of his poems.  Each year he reads for Proudwords lesbian and gay writing festival.  2005 saw the publication of his collection Lovebites from Chanticleer Press.

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