Patricia Pogson
Next Door
1
Threats when the helm wind
flattens her fence
angry phone calls about small boys
who use her garden end
as a short cut
to the beck
this afternoon I looked up
from my desk
to see her looking up
at our cracked chimney
an old woman
resting on a white bench
working her jaw over loose teeth
stiff helmet of strawberry hair
the skull in her face
taking shape
2
Her grandson found her -
head back over the wicker chair
bed turned carefully down
teeth on the mat
stockings round her ankles
big hands
dropped from her wrists.
The vase he toppled
rushing for the phone
is upside down on the fridge.
Her son’s put a lock
on the french window -
he’s burning her old dresses
against the garden wall
- nylon and stale perfume,
thick oily smoke.
The grass is viridian
fireweed smothers the peonies
woodlice invade the kitchen.
In the gap under her sewing machine
there’s a drift of linet and coat dust.
A wafer of soot blows onto the carpet
black rain spatters the hearth
spiders close the curtains.
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Page(s) 22-23
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