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7th July, 2023

Friday Poem – ‘Night Mode’ by Tamar Yoseloff

Photo of a city skyline lit up against the dark night sky

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Night Mode’ by Tamar Yoseloff from her collection The Black Place. Tamar has recently been awarded a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors in recognition of her contribution to poetry .

Night Mode 

The hours are counting 
certainty on tiny screens
I'm turned to silent. 

Hair grows faster in the dark
when no-one's watching. 
I can hear it break through skin. 

Cars disappear in boxes
again and again in slow motion.
This is what passes for entertainment.

Say you're /in transit/ - it sounds better. 
Say you believe in indeterminancy. 
No wrong answers just poor questions. 

It's already morning in Australia. 
How exhausting. Someone is always 
crowing about clear blue sky. 

/Failure/ is a beautiful word, 
the way it curls around the tongue. 
Embrace it. Let it love you. 

Enough. We'll call it a day.