TWO POEMS by CASEY GARFIELD

hi hello i love you i’m casey garfield

after ‘hello’ by crispin best

my favourite word to end a poem on is

“anyway”

I think it’s funny and beautiful

like poems should be

I love to describe stuff as

“all this stuff”

like “drunk on all this good sleep broken”;

or “under all this sun”

it feels bountiful and it’s fun to say

and I don’t know why it should stay in just one poem

when it could come visit in all sorts of nice homes

like how nobody would tell off an apple

or a particularly good shade of blue

for showing up in more than one painting

nobody’s ever asked me to apologise for that

but id like to say I’m not sorry regardless

oh no I am too self referential

oh no I’m here in the poem

sat between the lines waving

and making inside jokes for us

oh no the attempt to share beauty and truth

has become personal and reaches out to you

I think that’s fine

I think we’ll live

I think we’ll laugh

I think we’ll love

I think a lot of things I want to tell you all about

I’m gonna paint so many apples

I’m so full of love it’s stupid and beautiful

like me or a poem or most dogs

sorry if that was too much for an introduction

anyway

---

&

we look around

and it’s all a poem already

so we don’t need to write anything

and stay in it all instead

if life gives you lemonade

that’s great

---

Casey Garfield (they/them) is a nonbinary poet, publisher, and pal, currently working on being the happiest they've ever been. You can find more of their work on instagram @thepoetnotthecat or at caseygarfield.co.uk.