Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Poetry Library Southbank Centre - The Poetry Library housing the Arts Council Collection at Southbank Centre

« Previous item
Contents of this issue
Next item »

Mim Darlington

print this page

She Dreams of the Supermarket

At night it fills like a pool —
windows bulge like great eyes ready to spill
currents draw her into the aisles

she tries different styles, butterflies
from lettuce to watercress, past special offers
pulses like a jellyfish, light as an otter

mermaids in cosmetics and hair care
(breast stroke here), comes up for air
where tinned sardine list like wrecks —

dodges rusty cans and soup in slicks
crawls through sweeties, in a reef of eyes
the restaurant is all drowned stalactites

in the shadows pan handles jut like conger
shoals of cutlery rise and flicker
she breaches like a whale

breaks fridges open, lets ready meals escape
bursts Birdseye peas, hunts for krill
tries on seal skin, learns selkie skills

next day it’s a drained and empty place —
in the car park and trolley bays
tracks lead away through tarmac and asphalt

to the rack, the drip of drying pelt.

Mim Darlington lives near Dartmoor in Devon where she is a member of the Moor Poets collective. She taught English for many years before becoming a freelance writer. She has had many poems published in magazines and anthologies across the UK and Ireland, appears regularly at festivals, and often works collaboratively with other artists. Her first poetry collection, Windfall, is published by Oversteps Books.

Page(s) 57

Back to top