Toby Campion

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looking—

I wear tight trousers to work events  
usher stray cats up telecom poles & phone for help 
flail in the deep end at the lido yes pretending 
to faint in shopping centres distributing images 
of my torso sure tensed and edited I have gotten 
into strangers’ cars removed my coat when asked 
shaved my chest to a hot ruby hum
aunties 
            you found your good men in supermarkets
post office queues company picnics other marriages   
you made it look so easy sitting at Christmas 
in your matching jumpers tell me how you got them 
brussels sprouts wilting in the middle to exhale  
that way when you leave a room you lied to me

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TOBY CAMPION is an award winning poet, playwright and performer. His debut short-collection of poems, Through your blood, was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes 2018, and recent poems have been published in The London Magazine, 100 Queer Poems and Magma. Website: www.toby-campion.com