Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Culture
  2. Poetry
31 May 2023

The NS Poem: let the lilac in

A new poem by Michael Pedersen.

By Michael Pedersen

having hared through the day

let me be your armchair

by the night window—unhaul,

coorie in; into this cradle

of salt & buffer inject

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday - from the New Statesman. The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

those wayfarer bones; douse down

the day’s flare of voices—

Content from our partners
Why collaboration is the key to growth
How AI can help unleash employee potential
How Registers of Scotland modernised the world’s oldest land register

see the restless gritters sleep

or, better still, delete themselves;

be held, a pebble lagooned

in water’s midnight minerals;

behold moon plated in the eyes

of an owl—starlight’s lapidary scrawl

rallying the dark like hot ash caught

on spiderweb; the luminescence

graffiti-ing your slippers

& sloshed onto the chin’s timber;

hush now, as, on my lap, you begin

a dreamer’s mumble,

somnambulant lips kiss the air

until finding my skin

Michael Pedersen is a Scottish poet and author. His first book of prose, “Boy Friends”, was published by Faber & Faber in 2022. His third poetry collection, “The Cat Prince & Other Poems”, will be published by Corsair in July

[See also: The meaning of Essex]

Topics in this article : ,

This article appears in the 31 May 2023 issue of the New Statesman, The Rise of Greedflation