Washing by Wendy Allen

in the bucket are rosebuds

turning cordial by a stick

worn thin as marriage

a bitter raspberry tide mark

the exact shade of lipstick I find

on your collar

these pink flecks stick

to the sides of the steel

like yesterday’s syntax

in this cold minuscule light

you are madly morning frantic

your ink laced fingertips

dip yesterday’s sheets deep

into our steel rimmed estuary

the water is bridal cold

as you hold the sheets under

---

Wendy Allen has been published in Atrium, Re-Side, Brunel Writer and Northern Gravy. She has a Legitimate Snack coming out shorty from Broken Sleep and is about to start an MA in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes.

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