Jonathan Rigby

Jonathan Rigby

Climbs up the stairs to the room where he isn’t allowed

Goes in there now.

Gets in the wardrobe.

Digging around in the dust and the dirt

Finds guitar.

And a face in a jar.

All the other secrets

Seem suddenly so small

All the other secrets

Hurt nobody at all.

Face is contorted

Screaming a plea no-one has, no-one ever will hear.

Howling with fear.

So Jonathan Rigby

Carefully sets back the jar and retreats

from the room.

Thoughts start to bloom.

All the other secrets

Seem suddenly so small

All the other secrets

Hurt nobody at all.

Jonathan Rigby

Forces his food to his mouth with a trembling hand

His mum watches, and

Silently wonders what in the world - on this earth - has got into her son

He’s normally fun.

All the other secrets

Seem suddenly so small

All the other secrets

Hurt nobody at all.

Planets

Jasper worked as a cleaner at the Planetarium. He knew all the secrets; that you had to polish Saturn's acrylic rings, that Neptune required dusting, and that there was a secret compartment in the Sun where they kept a mop and bucket. Jasper had once tried to shine Pluto - he'd sprayed it with some blue liquid from the cupboard, but it was made of polystyrene and shrivelled up to a thing the size and texture of a raisin. The next day, they announced that Pluto was no longer a planet. Jasper resigned that afternoon.