The Upstairs Bathroom
commanded a view of The Backs:
the allotments, the alleyways,
the council estate. Here she washed
away more than just dirt. (Countless spiders
slid by – just temporary lodgers). The envy
of her sisters, no more kitchen cat licks,
or tits out in tin baths. The metal chain
yanked hard to flush out the cistern
made overnight buckets in bedrooms redundant.
On the quiet, her dreamed of home
boomed with the silence of a husband
in Europe and the blood-streaks
of her babies when they left her, hollow
as the craters the bombs made down
Newton Road. Lifeless as this new
view from upstairs.
Gillian Mellor lives in Moffat, Scotland. She has been published in Southlight, The Fankle and The Fat Damsel.
Note: The Upstairs Bathroom first appeared on the Southlight website.