ode to captain birdseye | father and son | corona coming out

by Tom Stockley

16/05/2020 | poetry | 3 minute read

illustration provided by the author

ode to captain birdseye

I have sailed

Across seven sainsburies

To find you.

With your skin like wind-swept leather and your beard, an iron scourer

I will be your ocean haven and together we'll be stranded.

You look like Fred Sireux, from First Dates

I want to get shipwrecked with you,

To be your first and only mate.

I'll be your breadcrumb baby, If you sail away with me

Show me your horizon, we will make love to the sea.

I will be your sailor, I will be you Birdseye view

They say there's more fish in the sea

But all I want is you.

father and son

Upstairs, I sip gin

and chat to a boy

for two and a half hours.

Downstairs, Dad watches James Bond

and late night shows about manly truck drivers.

we're both a bit drunk and, weirdly,

very similar people

- but i don't say goodnight to him

and hope he understands

corona coming out

i'm thinking about coming out to my parents

when i go home to quarantine

because, fuck it, now's as good a time as any

they can't take it that badly

when we're all in a global healthcare crisis

and besides

- it will give us something to talk about

other than this virus

and i was born too late

for those two things

to be related.

---

about Tom (he/they)

Tom Stockley (HE/THEY) is a queer artist, writer, performer and producer; often performing under the stage name of T.S. idiot. He flirts with the humour, beauty, sadness and love of every day life, and was once described by his local council as being 'in very poor taste'

website: https://tomstockley.weebly.com/

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tstheidiot/

insta + twitter: @tstheidiot