Goliath by Mat Riches

Goliath

You find you’re carrying
a cairn in your pocket.

You’ve been to some hard places
before and found yourself

looking down on the rocks
you stole as talismans.

A bespoke quarrying,
they were transported home

in a pocket and turned
over and over, flipped

through fingers like gymnasts
looping round balance beams.

Before you pick your point
short of the horizon,

consider more than just
saving trouser linings.

Take careful aim, winding
up and back, then release

to watch each brief puncture
and skip away lightly.

.

 

Mat Riches is from Norfolk, but lives in Kent. He’s currently poet-in-residence at ITV (although they don’t know it). His work’s been in Poetry Salzburg, Under The Radar, South, Firth, Orbis, The Interpreter’s House, And Other Poems, Atrium, Ink, Sweat & Tears, London Grip, Obsessed With Pipework, Glasgow Review of Books, and Algebra of Owls. He’s on Twitter as @matriches and blogs at https://matriches76.wordpress.com/