This one languished for a long time as just the first strophe and the idea of releasing the mice. However on the train yesterday it got its moment to shine...
Elspeth doesn't shine... she glows gently if she thinks nobody is looking.
I'm not vegetarian but I like vegetarian food. And I'm not a cat person, but I'm even less a dog person so I get Elspeth to that extent.
The impossibility of Elspeth Spangler
The woman can't exist. She does not work
for all hours
in the whole-food shop. She won't
arrive at six to clatter
shutters down
and shove the drawer back firmly in the till.
She
never checks the racks for misplaced packs
or things that need
refill. She has no chance
encounters with her oldest friend or lunch
outside the vegan
café opposite,
and they don't laugh round cauliflower bake
or
snort latte at what the teacher said
that day when they freed
all the classroom mice
in the unreal childhood many miles ago.
And now she doesn't wander, weary, home,
the day of problems
not quite out of mind,
although the ones now gone feel so well
done.
There isn’t any hint of rain to damp
her slightly
battered funky hat. There’s no
absence of boy or girl back in
the flat,
boiling the kettle ready. She doesn’t need
to keep her
coat and scarf on while the place
warms through. There is the
cat, who adopted her
so many years ago and who awaits
the
ceremonial filling of the bowl
as if the World were a real and
reliable place.
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