Sean Elliott
The Waiting Room
The women smoking and their shopping bags
around their feet; a bright fruit machine spells
its patterns out in light and on the walls
a map, hygiene certificates, two flags,
a sun spent picture called The Peaceful Lake:
all bric-a-brac that found no other home
except a railway tea-room. Far from harm
the children pester mothers for some cake
and I am near to tears. November light
wavers against the far wall while I drink
my viscous coffee, shaping rhymes to link
this pattern into words. I hear the lilt
of Welsh on English in this border town;
one young girl slams carnations on the tables,
one to a jar, some white, some red, each trembles
on impact while I write the details down
because this cannot last. A crowd begins
to gather, others leave. I check my watch
and push around the ashtray one charred match
while at the fruit machine a thin man wins.
Page(s) 51
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