<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Midnight at the Optician\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n After hours, in the dark, ranged in rows \u2014 The couple in the poster don\u2019t blink, not even in the sudden strafe uncovers no secrets. The letters on the charts with its blue curve of iris squints through the lenses of her dreams. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pe\u200bnny Ayers<\/strong> lives in Cheltenham. She has won prizes in the Wells Festival of Literature International Poetry Competition and the Cardiff International Poetry Competition 2013 and has been published in Brittle Star, The Dawntreader <\/em>and ArtemisPoetry.<\/em> She helps run the Gloucestershire Writers\u2019 Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Midnight at the Optician\u2019s After hours, in the dark, the shop watches itself. Frames on racks ranged in rows \u2014 plastic, titanium, rimless \u2014 try to outstare each other. The couple in the poster by the door gaze dreamily through spectacles far out to sea, don\u2019t blink, not even in the sudden […]<\/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-17904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17904","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=17904"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18002,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17904\/revisions\/18002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nthe shop watches itself.
\nFrames on racks<\/p>\n
\nplastic, titanium, rimless \u2014
\ntry to outstare each other.<\/p>\n
\nby the door gaze dreamily through
\nspectacles far out to sea,<\/p>\n
\nof headlights from the street.
\nDazzle flick-searches the shadows,<\/p>\n
\nThe computer on the receptionist\u2019s desk
\nmaintains a vacant stare.<\/p>\n
\nin the examination room don\u2019t spell a message
\nfor the great globe of eye on the wall,<\/p>\n
\nits map of blood vessels.
\nFaraway, the optician turns in her sleep,<\/p>\n
\nA drunk stumbles in the doorway,
\nreleases a stream of light onto the step.<\/p>\n