The last two joints
of an old-style stocking snake,
one colourful sticker peacocking
on the piece that is not the tail.
A piece of plastic shaped like
the bars of a Lego jail
or a portcullis.
One polished stone,
rounded, lined like a tree trunk
tri-coloured.
A white hairslide
with hearts
and a picture of a pink rabbit.
A piece of rock
rough with sea
I can almost taste the salt.
A grubby white gem.
A small round figure
in a backwards hat
with a spanner and moustache,
like an overweight Man at Work.
A Dr Oetker bottle
that used to hold peppermint
for the creams I made once.
Now empty and perfect
for a 2 year old hand.
In my pocket
the parts of a poem
you sent me to work with.
Sarah L Dixon, The Quiet Compere of Lead Poets in Chorlton, Manchester, England. She runs Last Sundays writing workshops at Chorlton Library. Sarah has been published in The Ugly Tree, Rain Dog, Uroborus, Commended in the Leaf Poetry Prize and won First prize for Journalism with the acpNews in 2007 for a piece about her wedding in the style of a Post Mortem Report. Mum to 2 year old Frank who is both a delight and defiant, Sarah is married to Philip who she re-met seven years after college (where they never went out), for some reason she was in a pink wig and sequin dress that night, just for the hell of it! “Sarah L Dixon’s sharp incisive witty poetics coupled with a gentle sense of natural language leave you satisfied, completive and often with a great big smile on your face.” Gerry Potter. Visit: about.me/sarahldixon
