Encore

by Elizabeth Gibson

​We are on our feet now, last doubts thrown aside
and we dance as the windows are opened out wide.

The night slowly mingles with sweetness of sweat
and your hair and eyes shine as you cradle those frets.

When the darkness seeps in, and the first scent of rain
and our eyes are all itching for sleep, we remain

and I think that I feel something enter my space,
through heat and adrenaline: the truth in your face.

When your voice starts to go, at the end of the song,
I know that soft sound – it was you all along.

You were there in those chords that I wept to for years,
you told me, kid, it is all right, you belong in this world.

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Elizabeth Gibson is a poet, performer and tutor in Manchester, UK. Her writing is inspired by city life, self-love, the queer community, mental health, body image, and the environment. In 2020, she was chosen to represent Manchester City of Literature in the Tartu Bus Poetry Project, with her poem “Arrival”, about migration and belonging, translated and shared on bus windows in Tartu, Estonia. In 2021, Elizabeth was awarded a significant DYCP grant from Arts Council England, to allow her to focus on further exploring and owning her queerness through poetry. She edits Foxglove Journal, and tweets and Instagrams as @Grizonne.