School Reunion
His gaze, a sea-blue-green, his arms
still golden and still baling-raw, his voice
no longer stretched
and low as all those years ago
in this same field
asking us to not disturb
that calmly circling horse – its bale
an ingot melting
and our thin flames no match
for such a sunset anyway – this time
he brushes by, not shy
like then, but so in charge, helping
carry coats and bags
again, and I now know for sure that he
will no more keep his mind
from wayward sparks than I
can ever keep my eyes from closing
on a fire, recall
a slow white shadow, steady on its dial
in the always almost dark.
Rob Miles is from Devon and he lives in West Yorkshire, UK. He has taught Hispanic and visual-cultural studies at the universities of Hull, Leeds, Portsmouth and Liverpool. His poetry has appeared widely in anthologies and magazines and he has won various competitions, including the Philip Larkin Prize, judged by Don Paterson, the Resurgence Ecopoetry Prize, judged by Imtiaz Dharker and Jo Shapcott, and the Poets & Players Prize, judged by Sinéad Morrissey. Rob has poems recently published or forthcoming in Stand, Poetry News, Mediterranean Poetry, Poetry Wales and Australian Book Review.