four badly-made sandcastles side by side on 

the beach, with the waves scraping at the bottom

of each spire, leaning tower of pisa slowly toppling

into the sea. 

she said, god be my witness i will love you. 

flash of egg-white hair like the flicker of a lizard’s

tongue, there and then gone.

but since then she’s spoken to god, who’s refusing 

to take to the stand. he’s hiding in a cigarette packet 

in marseille apologising to everyone from afar.

and i am just the wounded woman feeding sandcastles 

to the water. kicking the drawbridge into the moat. she 

repeats, i will love you, like the promise of a duel. she 

reaches for the sleeve of my shirt and tugs. i will not go.

she pulls a crab out of the shallows to distract 

me. pulls a rabbit out of her sun hat. pulls a 

bar of cadbury chocolate out of the front drawer 

of her battered blue car. with sloppy sleight of hand 

she guesses my card. yes that’s right, ace of diamonds. 

she tries to read my future for me but we disagree 

on everything. all she can see is the diamond 

and all i can see is red.