Thursday 13 June 2024

13th June 2024

 



stiff wind

knocking down the foxgloves

boisterous dog


© Rachel Green May 2024


her Christmas cakes were always the same;

mixed fruit soaked in plum wine;

the thinnest layer of marzipan,

white icing poured and palate-knifed;

pink and blue rosettes piped on

and the plastic ornaments:

a spruce, a snowman and "Merry Christmas"

in plastic letters with peeling silver paint,

and the deformed plastic boy on a sled

pretending the icing was a winter snowscape.


After she died I continued the custom

but nobody ate the cake her hands hadn't touched

and the snowscape turned grey with age.


© Rachel Green May 2024


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