Go Between

I met one of your teachers
just the other day -
the one with the name like
gossip, gosling -
soft feathers of baby birds -
corsage worn by bride or girl
Mr Gossage,
showed me the room
where we were taught -
asked me how my brother
was – said he’d kept the
paper that you wrote
for years and years until
just recently -
he’d always thought you’d
work in Academia – so I
told him – funny -
about your education
your Oxford Don and
Doctor winning thesis
something to do with
literary criticism
and Walter de la Mare.

If you should ever wish to return

(you’ll have to hurry
their knocking it down next year)

you should know
they hold your face,
somewhere safe
in slanting boards:
a young man,
smoking a pipe,
a jacket patched -
probably corduroy.

I said I’d send their thoughts.
Told them you’d be pleased to hear.