<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Taxidermist Regenerates Blackburn<\/strong><\/p>\n The heart had gone out of it. She knew where to spend a pound Her Mum said she\u2019d kept worms in a jar, Instead, she curled her \u201cR\u2019s\u201d Not for her the fake plastic tan of Ken, Inside her Grandma\u2019s house Art sprawled naked on the sofa Hold a knife, slice from head to tail A fortune telling squirrel dressed in bling Jake the ten foot Burmese python <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marion Oxley<\/strong> started writing poetry four years ago and was long listed last year\u00a0in the Plough Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared\u00a0in several local anthologies and more\u00a0recently in the Butcher\u2019s Dog<\/em> poetry magazine. She lives on the Lancashire\/Yorkshire border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Taxidermist Regenerates Blackburn The heart had gone out of it. They\u2019d wanted a Poundland or a Gregg\u2019s; said they needed it. She got out the rat purse, unzipped the fur, counted the coins. She knew where to spend a pound to buy a frozen takeaway mouse, better than cruising the estate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10256"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10719,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256\/revisions\/10719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThey\u2019d wanted a Poundland
\nor a Gregg\u2019s; said they needed it.
\nShe got out the rat purse,
\nunzipped the fur, counted the coins.<\/p>\n
\nto buy a frozen takeaway mouse,
\nbetter than cruising the estate
\nlooking for rotting bodies,
\nso pretty in the gutter.<\/p>\n
\ndug up friend\u2019s pets. Hadn\u2019t learnt to speak
\nwith a plum in her mouth; not round here.<\/p>\n
\naround Blackburn, and the slugs
\nslurred in her mouth, popped out clean,
\nnever leaving a nasty taste.<\/p>\n
\nthe hard body of Barbie,
\nthe stiff limbs and swivelling heads.<\/p>\n
\nshe did it herself. Found flesh
\na gasp of breath. Filled the space
\nwith pulp and imagination.<\/p>\n
\nas style crossed her threshold.
\nShe showed it how to spread-eagle rats.
\nFlatten bodies, face down.<\/p>\n
\nbetween fingers and thumb, rip and tear,
\nturn fur and innards inside out.
\nSever connections, suture up the past.<\/p>\n
\npeers into a crystal ball; the murky waters
\nof the Leeds Liverpool canal slowly part.<\/p>\n
\nsqueezed into a freezer;
\nlies coiled like a giant black pudding
\nwaiting for the thaw.<\/p>\n