‘What is it that you profoundly love?’ by Sapphire Allard

What is it that you profoundly love?

Pyjamas   deep baths  camping  
how everyone lives  in tents   sky
earth the usual   teenagers on protests  
hand written signs for peace
My husband in a shirt & tie on a zoom call  
tiny orange shorts just for me
at a café yesterday the menu had a sign
that said ask us about marshmallows    
Dog’s noses.   Jan says widely     I love birds! 
Birds are such dear things
no kids all day!                I love my kids but is love  
happiness though? Cheryl
questions. My toddler, she’s just started playing
by herself I watch her                  just making cakes with sand
My friend Peter. Before he spoke how he made a rasp like
his body was warming up.  How he said,
when my colleague took his life   
     wow I just could never do that  
with such conviction I totally believed him
I love birds too     I remember
holding a little one      perhaps a wren
as a child          in my hands
 

Sapphire Allard is a writer and teacher living in Sussex. Her work has been previously published by Poetry Ireland Review, Mslexia, Ambit, The Selkie and many others.