Anne Berkeley
Faithful
Always discreetly at her side,
we protected her - and let her carry us along.
We lined up neatly and did as we were told,
each mouth like a gilt trap she’d snap open and shut,
obedience and sense of duty ingrained in us.
She had that chemistry, and perfect grasp.
We were proud to be a handbag. We gleamed
and warmed to her under the lights.
She smelled of limousines and Leichner,
and she was never in doubt.
We kept her powder dry, her nail-file and agenda
with our silk and secret fantasies of wealth.
Never mind the shoes - that special tone of voice
brought grown men to their knees, trembling, frit.
We rejoiced. She was tireless. In her prime
she was like a queen, her hair immaculate.
When she was alone
we’d watch her blue eyes peering down, her busy mouth.
We’d offer her a mirror, and take it back.
We didn’t need the details. And didn’t ask.
We are a silence she carried with her always
and the only place she could find herself,
a reassurance that everything could be
exactly as she’d left it.
We were famous just for being there.
Twice, but only twice, we had to hide
her tears. She clutched us tight. We never actually
hit anyone.
Page(s) 51
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The