Brendan Slater

The friend who

The friend who's been drinking with me all night, sharing his secrets, and me mine, who's always there when I'm stuck, who takes the piss out of me to my face, who believed in Santa until he was twelve, who forgave me even when I slept with his girlfriend, who spends the last cash from his giro on my son's birthday present, who just collapsed in my bathroom, who has his arm stuck down the toilet bowl, who isn't breathing . . . who has no pulse . . . who waits in silence until the paramedics arrive, who takes that short journey to A&E alone, who is pronounced dead within fifteen minutes, who still has beads of sweat on his forehead as I kiss him for the last time.

your piece
for unprepared piano
fluorescent sky