Animate, flesh-hectored
And so alphabetic, he exited
His skin and stepped outside

To a driving rain
Counted the voided
Mum stalks and walked

Up a sodden path to the road
Down which he started
North, reflection shifting

Over its stones
His feet full of problems
And a song in their plan

Daniel Poppick is the author of two books, Fear of Description (Penguin, 2019) and The Police (Omnidawn, 2017), and he lives in Brooklyn.