The lady who borrows youngsters
There are no items to satisfy her request
talking books about contemporary life don’t exist
She walks down the high street
pulls youngsters from queues
invites them for tea
and line them up on her sofa
in alphabetical order
She wants to be told everything
her eye-sight is too bad to read about
DJ’s, graffiti and raves
the life of her grandchildren
if she’d had children
When it gets dark mobiles
makes an alarming noise
the youngsters have been reserved
for someone more important
they want to be discharged
back to their lives
She takes the phones off them
asks their families and friends
if she can renew the loan
she doesn’t mind paying the fine
if she can keep them
for just a little longer
But the reminders
are piling up on the hall mat
her license to borrow has expired.
• Louise Halvardson was born in Sweden on a cold winter's day in 1982. When she was old enough she escaped to England and ended up in Brighton which inspired her to write a novel. It's called Punkindustriell hårdrockare med attityd and was published in Sweden last year. She's also active, going by the stage name of Lou Ice, as a performance poet. www.myspace.com/louicepoetry82
