Maureen Li
The Devil I Will
I should've known:
one look at those purple suede pumps
(step off your average kerb and they’re done for)
shiny black suit, skinny frame,
all that blazing hair.
There's been no eye contact
(he makes sure of that) but he's there
at the window of the 8.45
dangling his brittle nails
the O of his breath on the frosty glass
the raw red tip of his little tongue
calling me out,
there at my back in the bathroom mirror
watching me floss
his pockets lumpy with liquorice toffees
(I never eat sweets but so help me I let them
into my mercury fillings),
and now this
blood-red scratch across my pillow:
Hey you. Wait by the chainlink fence
where the guard dogs are.
No rubber goods. No shoes. Be there.
one look at those purple suede pumps
(step off your average kerb and they’re done for)
shiny black suit, skinny frame,
all that blazing hair.
There's been no eye contact
(he makes sure of that) but he's there
at the window of the 8.45
dangling his brittle nails
the O of his breath on the frosty glass
the raw red tip of his little tongue
calling me out,
there at my back in the bathroom mirror
watching me floss
his pockets lumpy with liquorice toffees
(I never eat sweets but so help me I let them
into my mercury fillings),
and now this
blood-red scratch across my pillow:
Hey you. Wait by the chainlink fence
where the guard dogs are.
No rubber goods. No shoes. Be there.
Maureen Li abandoned a teaching career, re-trained as a reflexologist, and now writes and works with survivors of torture. She travels as much as she can and enjoys her garden and her one year old grand-daughter. She lives in south west London.
Page(s) 51
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