If you call, you’ll get my machine.
If I’m not in the bath soaking aches,
matching wits with a wily crossword compiler
or on the loo revising wasted days

We all know it’s a flat country,
but far South-East Amsterdam
is so flat, low and expectant,
like a work table, I get curious.

What was it again?
The stories from the back of the room
no longer silent. The slight person standing
had that pearlescent skin, wet stone