Velvet Shells
After an installation by Suze MacMurray.
They’ve passed the test –
that tap from Chef’s blade,
a glimmer of muscle
from those still alive
before the pile-up,
blue and black,
on a white plate.
She imagines lovers
scooping out
wine-soaked flesh,
that slow contraction
of spirits in the throat;
on the side, a stack
of coffins, unhinged.
She’s a collector
of leftovers,
a scavenger
of restaurant bins –
all the way home
that rattle in her hands
and afterwards
hours of scrubbing
the shine back in,
before laying them out
with such care
on the kitchen table,
folding crimson velvet
into emptiness,
offering up a prayer
for each little death.
Victoria Gatehouse lives in West Yorkshire. Her poems have appeared in magazines and anthologies including Mslexia, Magma, The Rialto, The North, Poetry News, The Interpreter’s House, Prole, Ink Sweat and Tears and Her Wings of Glass. Competition placements include Ilkley, Mslexia, Poetry News Members’ Competition, Prole Laureate and The Interpreter’s House.