Spectator poems
From the magazine

The Radiator Wall

Philip Hancock
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 07 June 2025
issue 07 June 2025

This one I’ll leave till last,

postponing the problems – how 

the wallpaper will come round the corner 

and the principal fern in the pattern 

will continue to meet the ceiling,

the length staying true to the plumb.

Then the trick of easing it down 

behind the radiator so it won’t 

snag on the wall, ruck up and tear. 

Even if I shift my chair, 

face the opposite way during tea breaks, 

I can’t not think of that wall.