Photos by Heidi Kuisma and Neil Milton
Music by beneath Us, the waves
Poem by Rhys Baker

Water  

You could hear it for miles
A heart bursting forth into the air
its gasp parts the bulrushes around the lake
I can see your bright little body
A Kentish disco of sun tanned tattoos
You are full of sound but no words
And my heart bounds out, anxious to mix blood where blood need not mix
My paws pound the perimeter scattering birds and the twins
Too quick for a smoker I am by your side
Heart to heart
You and me
As if I was still 5 and you were still 3
Now more than ever we have the same smile
What is mine is yours
From my eyes to my thorns
Below us is the monster
Moses
Down there in the rushes
Riding to ruin and wrapping line around the reed shafts
I join my heart outside my clothes and jump
The surface stays true, it swallows me up...
I have my brown arms around his brown body
For a blink and a backflip then he is free
I stare at you on the bank
You stare at me in the water
Though they are broken, our hearts are still right there between us
Pulsing the same song
The same voice
The same laugh
The same walk when we’re drunk
The same gruff folded arms
We spent so long beside the water last year
Out-drinking and sometimes even out-thinking the fish
And who knows. Moses may go on to great things
Perhaps one cool evening
Down there in the rushes
Down there with his younger sisters and brothers
He will tell them all the tale of his great escape
As I would have tonight if only you were here

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