12th July 2025

 

first blackberry

a sour taste in my mouth

British politics

© Rachel Green July 2025

With aching hands, my building session done

after only hours two, and reddened

sheets of aluminium, though few or none

of them are screwed into the base and deadened

are my arms with scalpel-sharpened cuts

and fingers stabbed with countless pricks

for though the build-a-shed kit comes with gloves

one cannot wear them with the tiny bits

like nuts and bolts while plastic washers keep

the rain from penetrating pre-drilled holes

but finally I have the base made up and weep

for all the parts not yet unwrapped: the sides and poles.

 And worst of all: I should have measured length and wide:

 There is no way my bicycle will fit inside.

© Rachel Green July 2025