Their small day
The trunk is carried down from the attic,
the dress beaten and hung out to bleach.
After the truck dust clears
100 white plastic chairs are unstacked into a grin.
The ceremony spot is tagged in black gaffer tape,
out of Zip Lock primrose, marigold, geranium.
The kitchen drain runs blood and onions.
A small fridge for cold drinks cables from the balcony.
Rocks are washed to weight down the napkins.
White paper garlands shimmer building to building
The USB backup in a labelled envelope
sellotaped to the underside of a speaker.
The stage is swept.
She washes her hair, plaits it, bracelets slip to her wrists:
I promise this
and this.
Hannah Jane Walker is a writer and producer from Cambridge. She studied literature at the University of East Anglia and poetry at Newcastle University. With Chris Thorpe she had made four plays, two published by Oberon. She has written for The Guardian and BBC Radio 4 and is currently working on a solo show about sensitivity called ‘Highly Sensitive’, a collaboration with playwright Rachel Mariner called ‘recovering misogynist’, a dance circus collaboration and a children’s book. Hannah’s poetry has been published by Nasty Little Press and she has just finished her first full poetry collection ‘Shark!’ edited by Caroline Bird and Joe Dunthorne. She is an Associate Artist at the National Centre for Writing http://www.hannahjanewalker.co.uk/?page_id=2
She is getting married this month.