As Safe as Houses
Cracks are first to appear,
then walls burst their seams.
Windows rattle out of frames,
the roof lifting its lid to the sky.
A rumbling boom
hurtles down the street.
Stunned
passers-by turn their heads
imagine the worst.
A black pall clambers high
hovers like a fallen angel
over newly empty space.
Sue Wallace-Shaddad is currently undertaking the second year of the Newcastle University/Poetry School MA in Writing Poetry. She has poems published by London Grip, Ink Sweat & Tears, Poetry Space, The French Literary Review and in magazines and anthologies. Sue is Secretary of Suffolk Poetry Society.