A note at the wedge, ink still wet

A pick under boot

Red lamps fixed

I tap the grill twice

Make this cost

Room hire in winter, heater dead

Amp breath fogging the glass

They laid out their saints on a stand,

I wrote new words on the same mask

Marker squeaked, he watched my hand

The tall one swallowed and looked past

I cut the intro with my teeth

Downbeat hit like kicking a latch

Ink on the thumb, bite on the lip

Truth walks in with a split

Give it back, the year you pressed flat, give it back

I sing the cut, I feed it air, give it back

Salt in the mouth, iron and grit, no gloss, no patch, give it back

If you feel heat, don’t dress the mark, let it track, give it back

No tidy end

After school desk with a gouge near the edge

His pen crossed me out, not the text

Lemon in the hall, shoes stopped, then tests

Finish first, he said, I learned the trick

Finish small, then finish less

No marks on skin, just rules that bit

I sang to the sink with the tap turned up

No proof on film, the proof was shut

Marker in fist, jaw set to cut

Tonight that room gets brought up

Give it back, the year you pressed flat, give it back

I sing the cut, I feed it air, give it back

Salt in the mouth, iron and grit, no gloss, no patch, give it back

If you feel heat, don’t dress the mark, let it track, give it back

A workbook page with the margin ripped

My name in pencil, rubbed to smear

A kitchen chair with the varnish split

His shadow long, the lesson near

I mouthed a tune with my tongue stuck shut

I kept that tune, I brought it here

If it splits, leave it split

If it floods, let it hit

Put it on the wire, past paint, past dust, let it crack

Read it out, across these rigs, row by row, give it back

Seats go dark, rails go wet, we don’t mask

Read it out till glass replies, give it back

Put it on the wire, no hush, no bribe, let it track

Name by name, line by line, give it back

A note at the wedge, ink still wet

I step on the pick

Lights cut

We don’t patch