Liz Atkin
Black Nought
When the winter sky opened for severe frost
and the water thickened in the local lake
most of the village would come to skate.
Children learnt by pushing an assorted
collection of chairs which they’d abandon
at the edge as if a small audience
were expected for her moonlight appearance
when he’d carry her to the brink, fuss
and fidget with her scarf and long coat
before retreating to sit on the slope
with his box and its conjuring wand.
Jerky at first she’d push and thrust,
hands tied in a clasp behind her back
then build up to an even mechanical glide,
folk wondered why he didn’t manufacture
breath from those false white parted lips
in the way model trains had smoke,
but he seemed content with her effigy
as it was and would watch her go round
and round in large circles, nothing like
the small black nought that swallowed her.
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