{"id":13276,"date":"2026-08-28T16:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13276"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:55:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:55:01","slug":"if-you-close-the-door-the-night-could-last-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13276","title":{"rendered":"if you close the door, the night could last forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the sun rises<\/p>\n

over julia\u2019s balcony<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

streaming from the east,<\/p>\n

honey & lemons from the west<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

where empty plant-pots sing for geraniums<\/p>\n

strong enough to survive the spanish summer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

julia\u2019s eyes are gentled<\/p>\n

by soft blue morning light<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

it\u2019s stasis<\/p>\n

printed on the surface of passing clouds<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the sunlight is eternal<\/p>\n

it moves over & under the oleanders<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john ashbery walks into my poem<\/p>\n

it is the year two thousand and eighteen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

my poem will appear in a book called santa lucia<\/em><\/p>\n

with the opening poem dedicated to julia<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

who once worked in a museum by the sea in cartagena<\/p>\n

when we were young & we fell in love<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

julia wakes up<\/p>\n

rinses the darkness from her eyes<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

we are in madrid, the year is two thousand and twenty-two<\/p>\n

rubbish blowing under the streetlights<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

soft with sentimentality<\/p>\n

she speaks to me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

charlie, can\u2019t you see how a desert will miss the rain<\/em><\/p>\n

though some grains of sand have never seen the rain<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

she says this in spanish<\/p>\n

i am am reading barbara, by jaque prevert<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

it is raining on brest, sans cesse<\/p>\n

& i pretend not to hear<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

julia stirs milk into the pan<\/p>\n

folds paper over jack-fruit sandwiches<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

sweeps the dust from the corners of the kitchen<\/p>\n

where sadness lingers, sadness is fragile<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

in six months i will have an affair<\/p>\n

my father will commit suicide<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

& julia will say i think this now has to be the end<\/p>\n

and maybe she suspects the world has broken me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

broken into my heart<\/p>\n

when i knew i could not could not<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

if i forgave myself for letting her down<\/p>\n

it would only be another cruelty<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the faithful sun, kisses the sky<\/p>\n

she counts her thoughts on her hands<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

a thought can take years to arrive<\/p>\n

years measure distance, not time<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

julia catches a reflection in the mirror<\/p>\n

a man who does not live there anymore<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

i leave<\/p>\n

the sun<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

i sketch shadows in the ache of after hours<\/em><\/p>\n

by the velvet underground<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

caressing the purple hibiscus on her balcony<\/p>\n

streaming from the east<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

honey & lemons from the west<\/p>\n

the year is two thousand and six,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

i live in almeria<\/p>\n

in a small house by the sea<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

& when i go to sleep i fold my dreams away<\/p>\n

under the pillow where no one can steal them from me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

i leave a light on, i sleep with the door open<\/p>\n

for when moe tucker walks in & whispers<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

if you close the door<\/em><\/p>\n

the night could last forever<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charlie Baylis is from Nottingham. His poetry has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize & once for the Forward Prize. His Spanish translations have been commended in the Stephen Spender Prize. His latest publication is\u00a0\u2018fuck poetry\u2019<\/a>\u00a0(2025). In his spare time he plays chess, supports\u00a0Nottingham Forest<\/a>\u00a0and edits the poetry journal\u00a0Anthropocene.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood   the sun rises over julia\u2019s balcony   streaming from the east, honey & lemons from the west   where empty plant-pots sing for geraniums strong enough to survive the spanish summer   julia\u2019s eyes are gentled by soft blue morning light   it\u2019s stasis printed on the surface of passing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[376,441,443],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nif you close the door, the night could last forever - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13276\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"if you close the door, the night could last forever - 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