<\/p>\n
Thames freeze<\/strong><\/p>\n My lady is taking me to see I\u2019ll lace her ladyship\u2019s boots tight, We\u2019ll link arms like sisters, I no longer maid, I telled my lady it\u2019s easier to get on They\u2019ll send me to get salted fish <\/p>\n Joolz Sparkes<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sacked from Cook\u2019s Confectioners<\/strong> I never pilfered. I never dibbed Maggie egged me on. I was dancing on the metal <\/p>\n Hilaire<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n London Undercurrents<\/strong> is an ongoing poetry project by Joolz Sparkes and Hilaire, unearthing the voices of feisty women who have lived and worked in the capital over many centuries. Their poems have appeared in South Bank Poetry and Brittle Star. Blog: https:\/\/londonundercurrents.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n Note: Thames freeze<\/em> was first published in Brittle Star<\/em> issue 36<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thames freeze My lady is taking me to see an elephant traverse the icy Thames. I\u2019m a-feared lest we fall in like them two ladies last winter, or worse, like that poor man drowned\u2013\u2013frozen afore he hit the water. I\u2019ll lace her ladyship\u2019s boots tight, wind her up in the warmest fabric s\u2028pin her […]<\/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":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10286","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=10286"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10343,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10286\/revisions\/10343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nan elephant traverse the icy Thames.
\nI\u2019m a-feared lest we fall in like them two ladies
\nlast winter, or worse, like that poor man
\ndrowned\u2013\u2013frozen afore he hit the water.<\/p>\n
\nwind her up in the warmest fabric
\ns\u2028pin her bonnet down with 8 pins,
\ndouble-bow the muslin strip under her chignon.<\/p>\n
\nfor the tip-toe walk across planks at the edge
\nuntil we reach thick sturdiness
\nmade from dirty water.<\/p>\n
\nand off the ice here on the north side\u2013\u2013she
\narched her brow thankful, for she is loathe
\nto \u2028cross to the south at all costs. So all\u2019s well
\nand \u2028happen she\u2019ll keep to the middle.<\/p>\n
\nand \u2028sweetmeats. Me, skipping, trying not to tumble,
\nfrozen nose and fingers and breath like icicles,
\neyes agog at the big old elephant
\nand the \u2028men that keep him from flattening the lot of us.<\/p>\n
\nBattersea Rise, 1923<\/em><\/p>\n
\na wet finger in a sugar bag
\nfor a sneaky suck. All my roses
\nturned out beautiful, wedding-cake perfect.<\/p>\n
\ntopped table, showing off my donkey-kicks
\nwhen Mr Cook walked in. Got my marching orders.
\nNow I\u2019m packing biscuits in Fulham,
\nsaving my shimmies for the dance hall.<\/p>\n