WhatsApp’s from Hackney to Oklahoma City

By: Raymond Antrobus & Cecilia Knapp

About The Poem

The Poem

[15:47, 19/01/2021]

A dog’s bark echoes

around the stony river –

Eternity fetched.

[16:47, 19/01/2021]

in the park/ on our bench/ the streetlight blinks on/just as I reach to place my hands/over my eyes/my friends are so/ gentle with me/a small boy crying on his scooter/glides past/away from his father/then his voice/ an echo

Luis says the dreams are getting realer/ the days coming back in pieces/ imprinted like school hymns/we can’t tell where the edges are anymore/ sometimes/late at night/ the sound of waves

[19:32, 27/01/2021]

Rubbish truck collects

what we take out our houses –

Thank the junk fairies

[16:50, 28/01/2021]

Up early enough for the moon/ to be a slice/ I peel a boiled egg/ congratulate myself/ sigh at a petition/ get distracted/ today tulips arrive in the post/ their stems wadded with wet cotton

[16:27, 05/02/2021]

Boy in Batman shirt / runs towards the glistening lake / like light from a star

[19:36, 09/02/2021]

snow here / the sky a rare silver/ icicles hang from the railway arch/ today I’m not here/ Ray/ I’m all summer/ on a Hackney riverbank/ how my friend pulled/ a wet blade of grass/ from my shoulder/ how touch once/ opened up/ a swelling pink breadth/ inside me

[19:51, 09/02/2021]

A dream of painters

gave me colourful advice –

Stumble into light

Return To Map