…and sometimes on these nights
as Spring cusps into Summer
and the air is potent with
the perfume of all that is promised
and blossoming and heavy
with intent   then you stand
beneath the laburnum tree and
inhale the decadent scent while
gazing at the moon   young and silver
and slim   through the great yellow
grape flowers   thick drops of sunlight
collecting on branches like water
queuing to fall   getting dew wet
toes because you forgot your
shoes   and you call the cat in….

Nick gets most of his sustenance from double espressos and malt whisky, and after a lifetime of denial is finally willing to admit his poetry habit in public. First published through the Leads to Leeds project run by Helen Mort, his poems have also appeared in The Cunningham Amendment, Pennine Platform and the Waterworks Anthology, and online at New Boots and Pantisocracies and In Between Hangovers.