Cross Stitch
My mother’s leaning on the gate,
her face angry. All afternoon
she’s been watching the clock,
waiting to confront me.
The boys from the council houses
daren’t throw sticks at the conker tree.
Next door’s dog won’t come out of his kennel.
Richard, my brother, is careful
not to get mud on the wheel of his barrow
as he trundles his boy-doll to and fro
across the little wooden bridge.
Later my father will not ask for salt
or pass a furtive postcard
between his strong, white teeth.
Why did you waste all those Kleenex
Her voice is hot on my neck, like a slap.
She’s been in my cupboard again
and found the pile of neatly folded tissues
I handed out on Sunday to my dolls;
one needle each, one piece of thread,
they embroidered paper-napkins on my bed.
her face angry. All afternoon
she’s been watching the clock,
waiting to confront me.
The boys from the council houses
daren’t throw sticks at the conker tree.
Next door’s dog won’t come out of his kennel.
Richard, my brother, is careful
not to get mud on the wheel of his barrow
as he trundles his boy-doll to and fro
across the little wooden bridge.
Later my father will not ask for salt
or pass a furtive postcard
between his strong, white teeth.
Why did you waste all those Kleenex
Her voice is hot on my neck, like a slap.
She’s been in my cupboard again
and found the pile of neatly folded tissues
I handed out on Sunday to my dolls;
one needle each, one piece of thread,
they embroidered paper-napkins on my bed.
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