Southbank by Petra White




SOUTHBANK


1


When the system crashes, and the screens,

and palm-hugged

beaches that saved them,

crinkle out

the office tilts like a ship.

Small murmurs

of surprise, voices like children

who�d been playing in the shade,

shocked by sunlight,

flurry and subside.

The thermostat

shudders its seasons

of freeze and sweat;

furry square windows

seal in the boredom

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