This one is for Kate Garrett
We don’t open up easily
Except for when we do.
But that’s just us.
We might know somebody,
Call them friend
Have plenty to discuss
And never once a decade
Open our hearts to them.
The way that we imagine
Others must.
The first night I met you
After the poetry
We stood on a Sheffield street
The two of us,
And talked about our mothers,
And our anger,
And Temple Grandin
In the darkening dusk.
Once in a decade
People like us
Open up unasked, like rare flowers
Like oysters.
Like people who can trust.
Tom Juniper Poetry 