Colin Dardis
Two Poems
A Finger Scar
Crescent shaped and reddened
as a dying sun, dark with healing;
caught on the edge of a broken brick.
Skin and immovable objects do not gel.
My skin is meant elsewhere, given over
to her blood-rush of tenderness.
I would not recommend another treatment.
Temperatures
A stranger messages you to say
that a mutual friend has passed away:
how do you react: with the truth?
That you never really knew them, only shared
a love of poetry, nothing else, mere grams
towards the total weight of human relations.
Tell me that you don’t expect comfort,
just recognition of a grief from someone
who cares enough, despite the distance.
Colin Dardis is one of Eyewear Publishing’s Best New British and Irish Poets 2016, and currently an ACES ’15-16 recipient from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His work has been published widely throughout Ireland, the UK, and the US. His work has won competitions with Glebe House Harmony Trust 2015, Fun Palaces #WriteScience 2015, and Edit Red Writers’ Choice Award for Poetry 2006. Colin is also the founder of Poetry NI and online editor for Lagan Press. Learn more at www.colindardispoet.co.uk.
These poems are not previously published.