Poppies Flashcards
Jane Weir
‘Before you left…’
‘Before you left, I pinned one onto your lapel, crimpled petals, spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer’
‘I wanted to graze…
‘I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose, play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little’
‘I resisted the impulse…’
‘I resisted the impulse to run my fingers through the gelled blackthorns of your hair’
‘All my words…’
‘All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt’
‘slowly melting…’
‘slowly melting. I was brave, as I walked with you, to the front door, threw it open, the world overflowing like a treasure chest’
‘A split second…’
‘A split second, and you were away, intoxicated’
‘After you’d gone…’
‘After you’d gone, I went into your bedroom, released a song bird from its cage’
‘this is where it led me…’
‘this is where it led me, skirting the church yard walls, my stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves.’
‘The dove pulled freely…’
‘The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch’
‘I listened…’
‘I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind’
