<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My grandmother teaches me<\/strong><\/p>\n Her flat swings through the mirrored door Her shoes are mauve, with little heels. through my mouth. \u201cDarling, let\u2019s get all these shoes out.\u201d Silk slips between wool crepe skirts. coiled like a snake.\u00a0 It unrolls Already I know when to say nothing.\u00a0 Instead of a heel between finger and thumb. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jean Atkin<\/strong> works as a poet, and lives in Shropshire. Her first collection Not Lost Since Last Time<\/em> is published by Oversteps Books. She has also published four pamphlets and a children\u2019s novel, The Crow House<\/em>. She is Poet in Residence for Wenlock Poetry Festival 2015.\u00a0\u00a0 www.jeanatkin.com <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My grandmother teaches me Her flat swings through the mirrored door and we are wafted with mothballs. Her nylons hiss when she crosses her legs. Her shoes are mauve, with little heels. I trawl my fingers in the deeps of the rug, stir talcum miasmas and breathe through my mouth. She directs […]<\/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":[136,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12591","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=12591"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23840,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12591\/revisions\/23840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nand we are wafted with mothballs.
\nHer nylons hiss when she crosses her legs.<\/p>\n
\nI trawl my fingers in the deeps of the rug,
\nstir talcum miasmas and breathe<\/p>\n
\nShe directs from the\u00a0 flounced stool
\nthat goes with the dressing table.<\/p>\n
\nI reach up to push aside soft ranks of clothes,
\ntheir hangers conversational above my head.<\/p>\n
\nA mohair coat-dress strokes my cheek.
\nI trap a belt.\u00a0 It\u2019s armoured in crocodile<\/p>\n
\na glittered buckle, strikes my hand.\u00a0 \u201cOh,
\nI used to be so slim,\u201d she says, \u201cwhen I was young.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nI find high-heeled sandals that swing pretty
\nin my grip, while I measure the stab<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSay stiletto! \u201c Her voice is beads skittled on a tray.
\n\u201cYour Mummy should wear these, shouldn\u2019t she?\u201d
\n <\/p>\n