'Love. Life. Other.' by Ben Wilson

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Ben Wilson's third book, his debut poetry collection, holds 33 portraits of what it means to be human, skin and all. Life pressed against death. Love held, then let go. The peaks and troughs of a mind trying to stay afloat. Coastal summers stretched out in the sun, winter nights aching for what's gone. Every beginning carrying its own ending inside it. And then the strange, small things too: football stickers gone soft at the edges, posters bleached pale on a wall, dreams that turn menacing in the dark, the quiet tragedy of a worn-out toothbrush... and, yes, farting in bed.

Coast

Soft morning ocean breeze sighs

Another summer’s day,

Watching strepitous seagulls

Bicker across the bay.

The reggae soldier’s boombox

Plays one more sunshine song,

Simple plans for this evening:

Alcoholic and long.

How I wish you were here too

Stroking my sunburnt skin,

Sharing lingering kisses

As nightfall shimmers in.

I love the twilight coastline

But that’s the conch I crave:

Your sweet smile pressed unto mine

In rhythm with the waves.

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