ghost ride the whip

another house party hosted by whatsherface 

another lacklustre Saturday chauffeuring you

around rooms of architecturally handsome faces

but tonight I’m cloaked

each word I utter is a haunting 

met with a second-sucking  startle

before being relegated to the conversation’s footnotes 

so I saunter between gossiping huddles

like a watermark on the evening

while you accompany me – moonbright & dancing –

pulling in promiscuous glances from boys 

carrying themselves with quiet thunder 

I hold your hand while leaving

solid enough to steer us home

but not enough to leave my fingerprints

on your memory of the evening

~~~

Alex Scarborough is poet from Hertfordshire, UK and currently based in Sydney. He studied songwriting at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London and is currently working on his first pamphlet. Recently, his work has been published in Ink Sweat & Tears and is forthcoming in Full House Literary. You can follow him on Instagram and Threads (@alexscarboroughpoet) and Bluesky (@ascarborough.bsky.social).