I am the Prevaricator
I’m distracted clearing Granny’s house.
I don’t see the sprig of barbed wire
sprouting with weeds in the garden.
It rips my dress from pocket to hem.
For weeks the orange-rayon hand-me-down
has been curled up on the sofa. It never moves,
like an animal that needs more sleep than
one winter’s hibernation.
I could mend the tear tonight, with backstitch,
in the time it takes to boil the rice,
instead, I convince myself this rice needs stirring.
Last night the thread wasn’t
a good-enough colour match.
Maybe it’s the way this torn dress,
once her pride and joy,
lights up the whole room,
like an earthed moon.
Veronica Aaronson lives in Devon. She is the co-founder of the Teignmouth Poetry Festival. Her work has been published in journals, anthologies and online sites. Her first collection Nothing About the Birds is Ordinary This Morning (2018) was published by Indigo Dreams.