Entropy

She lies inert,
in her hand the phone waits

static.

Wears a smile
like the other girls.

Hair straightened –

–    salon shine,

because she’s worth it.

Perfect skin,
regular uniform teeth;

she flips
through Cosmopolitan magazine.

The phone rings;

‘…like,
…yeah,
…y’ know’

pink bubblegum tones.

She fits in
just like the other girls.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

watching the rain from my window

I am watching the rain from my window
it bounces on the red brick of the street

it slides down gutters, down roofs, down chimneys
it slips from streetlamps, and signs, and leaves

it ripples in puddles driven by the wind
it scatters under cars and booted feet

it swills into grids, into drains, into streams
and I watch from the stillness of my room,

– unmoving.

• Belinda Dale is the secretary of the Chorley & District Writers Circle and has had several poems accepted by Decanto magazine.