Admiralty Arch
Angbeen Abbas
In the shadow of the building stands a man with a Pret bag in hand, neck bent
to stare up at the inscription between cornices,
the sunlight sharp on his reddened skin. He moves closer,
stepping past a dead rat, its paws tucked in, the
length of its body along the road.
The pouch of its stomach was unthreaded, Its
insides dried into the rust of the street.
There isn’t much to say. All the lives that happen here have their
own monuments. The soldiers of war,
not too far away are darkening under the new clouds, you can
almost see the wind billow around them.
Like a deep exhale. Like they’re waiting for an answer.
Angbeen Abbas is a writer based in London. Their work has previously been published in Murmur House and sea foam mag. You can find them on Twitter at @angb3en.