Fear Joint

by Verian Thomas

Side by side in our bed
we look up into the dark
towards the ceiling and listen
to rats scratch and scrape,
underneath the covers
we hold hands and wonder
if sleep will ever arrive
and we drift,
until silence
stirs us and we wait
for the comfort of knowing
they're still up there,
the rats, not in the room
with us.

In the morning I climb
out of the window
and look into the eaves
where a swallow is building
its home inside ours.

The Author

Verian Thomas is the editor of Comrades and owner of Comrades Press. He is a writer of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, a painter, photographer, maker of handmade books amongst other things. His first book, The Key was published by DPress and is distributed by Comrades Press. He also edited the Comrades Poetry Anthology, UNO and had poetry published here and there.