jean

Author:

A K Blakemore

the scent of an orange on the late-night train

as erotomanic provocation -

maleficia.

i bought a big dog

off a woman in Ealing. bought two big dogs because why the hell not.

i walk my dogs between the plane trees

in a black astrakhan, we all three

true scum. like to say the word ‘astrakhan’

like to have the cuff of one gently fingered

by an etiolated boy called ‘Archie’

i meet for coffee

and tender rapprochement

like Wordsworth I declaim

‘the city!’

like me

i plot an outrage against it’s body.

the sun

tempers my veins

to pink ice, so pure

like when a child tells you

you’re pretty

Commissioned for National Poetry Library's Open Day 2018 on the theme of 'Odysseys'. Part of London Literature Festival.

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