30th November 2019

heavy frost
over the winter grass
hungry sparrows

© Rachel Green 2019

Guilt and Regret
35.

nana's house
at 33 Armstong Road
(downstairs flat, long bulldozed)
A big black door
with a knob right in the middle
that locked when you closed it
(a novel idea to me,
having grown up with mortice locks)
the long, L-shaped corridor
with an upright piano at the corner
spare room, Nana's room,
and three steps down to the living room
where the heavy oak table
played host to family meals
and the budgie chirped
while she drank her brown ale in front of the fire.
No television here.
The kitchen at the back
with a big tin bath on the wall
and the brick yard outside
and tiny outside toilet
lit at night by a kerosene lamp.
A back gate
to the alley behind
where Dad parked his borrowed car
which got keyed by the local kids
on his one and only visit.
My bed, two armchairs pushed together,
where I five years old,
wet the faded leather in my sleep.

 © Rachel Green 2019