An image of a girl, smiling
A whitebread girl with small milkteeth
Sharp like a cat’s.
A narrow-faced woman with thin lips
A wide-stretched grin
Fixed. Pinched. Anxious eyes
Mistrustful, guarded – slanted slits under
Claw-slash brows
He loves her. He loves her long-limbed
Awkwardness, her stiff-necked
Elegance – the memory of how
She loved her cats.
Love. Memory. Shrill cries on the wind.
He takes in stray
Women and dreams
Of spilt milk.
WESTERLY, No.2, JUNE, 1987 77
Elly McDonald 