Anthropause Anaphora

after Pablo Neruda
by Tom Nutting

I like for you to be still:
it is as though you are here
close now we stop touching
your sky with kerosene cross-hatch
packages of freedom,
and it sounds like you speak in birdsong
we had forgotten in our parks — our daily
dose of clean air — who knew the city
could be so clear? It seems
as though you’ve returned, my soul,
to the spaces we reserved for you.
You are like the word: wild.

I like for you to be still
here and it seems as though you are
rejoicing: dolphins crystal Venetian canals,
elephants tea garden in Yunnan and
goats wander Llandudno town centre.
We laugh at the new kids in the playground
to hide our terror at ‘Nature reclaims!’ --
let us come out and play
your return through the night, lasting
like Attenborough behind electric
screens always (t)here: I like
for you to be as close
as my remote.

I like for you to be still:
it is as though you are
with that plastic bag choking
your whalesong. But one viral
video, then, one graph in Nature,
is enough. And I’m happy;
happy that it’s not true.

Tom Nutting (he/they) is a writer from Bristol, UK. He is a practising psychiatrist but also has an MA in English Literature. His work focusses on mental health and medical humanities, on gender and queerness, and on nature and climate. He is currently working on his first collection of poetry and short stories.