High Windows

Second-floor flat overlooking Pearson Park in Hull 

Larkin's rented accommodation from 1956 to 1974

HIGH WINDOWS

—for Philip Larkin

When I see a couple of guys—

And guess he’s fucking him and they’re   

Taking pills or wearing a rubber, I hope

They’re practicing safe sex

So many before them lost their lives—   

Bonds and gestures pushed to one side

Like an outdated Joan Crawford flick,

And everyone went down the long slide

To death and now thirty years later—

We look back and think what a waste,

All those lives gone needlessly and now

Here I am in Philip Larkin’s flat

No more DOMA and having to hide—

Priests not needed for gay marriages   

And now it’s our turn to go down the 

Long slide like those others did

And immediately the thought of—

Larkin in this room of high windows:   

The sun-comprehending glass, and 

beyond it, Nothing, Nowhere, Endless