A June Reception by Robert Nisbet

The mood was harsh, if not quite vicious,
and they were rising on a spout of anger
until they sprawled from the reception
to the midsummer night along the haven.

It had started with Jake’s new girlfriend.
There were envy maybe, a streak of jealousy,
and bragging rights and coquetry
and pride, pride, pride ...

The various family sleeps came heavily,
the adrenalin dropped and the night stole in,

the inscrutable dark peace of the haven.

At six came the sun and the warming air.
At breakfast they were scuffing spoons
with tamping-down embarrassment,
the croaks of conciliation.
Fetch you a coffee, Jakey? Cheers.

Robert Nisbet is a Welsh poet whose work appears widely and in roughly equal measures in Britain and the USA. He has been shortlisted for the Wordsworth Trust Prize in Britain and twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize in the USA.