Two Poems

Looking for the teabags 

In most kitchens there are probably some 
in a box near the kettle 
but not here. It’s early. You are asleep 
and I am looking for your teabags. 

You don’t know your way around a house 
until you can do it in the dark. 
Hopefully that will happen one day, but for now 
I’m guided by the bulb in the fridge 

because I can’t find the light switch 
and I am so worried about causing a clatter. 
I’ve found where you keep your tins of things 
and the cupboard of plates and bowls. 

I’ve found two decent-sized mugs 
and the sugar in the cupboard because you said 
last night, apologetically, you still haven’t given up.  
The kettle boils. I can’t quite believe we’ve got this far. 

The floor is cold on my bare feet but I don’t mind 
because maybe one day I will keep slippers here. 
The sun is just rising and your alarm will go off soon. 
Next to the bread bin I find it. A jar marked ‘tea.’

The milk aisle. 

She says she’s lactose intolerant  
but I think she just misses her dad, 
a milkman, who sat down on his armchair 

two Boxing Days ago, closed his eyes  
and didn’t wake up. 
He’d been saying he needed a rest. 

An empty milk bottle by his gravestone.  
Her grandad was a meteorologist  
and since he died none of the family  
have looked up at the stars.

John Osborne writes poems, scripts, and stories. Osborne has had poetry published in The Guardian, Rialto and The Big Issue. His poems have also been broadcast on Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 4,  Soho Radio, XFM, and BBC6 Music. Osborne’s new collection A Supermarket Love Story was published by Go Faster Stripe. He currently lives in Norwich, UK.  Follow him on Twitter @johnosradiohead

Artwork by Fatema Al Fardan