snow has settled, frozen
too late to use a shovel, now
tunnelbound garden rats
© Rachel Green January 2021
Mum
supplemented her housekeeping
buying pop from the factory van
and boxes of sweets
from the cash and carry
selling them on to the local kids
at a tiny mark-up.
When she sold ice-cream in the summer
she had to go to the freezer to fetch it,
leaving the boxes of sweets at the front door
as unattended temptation
and lost a lot of stock that way.
I was a young thief
and stole the odd bar myself
as I left for junior school
and one day dropped a chocolate bar
in my haste to leave the house.
It festered for days, weeks,
in the shadows of a plant pot
until it was discovered
teeming with ants
by my suddenly suspicious mother
who was more upset with my mortal sin
than any loss of her profit.
© Rachel Green January 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment