<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Left <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Robin Houghton<\/strong> is a communications consultant, trainer and writer. Her work has appeared in many magazines including The Rialto, Agenda, The North, Iota, Poetry News, Mslexia <\/em>and Ink, Sweat & Tears<\/em>. She blogs at http:\/\/www.poetgal.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Left If this flat were the one and the chain held and if we fell for \u2018String\u2019 by Farrow & Ball \u2013 or \u2018Cat\u2019s Paw\u2019, \u2018Joa\u2019s White\u2019 or whatever it\u2019s called – would we strip the ceiling rose and walls, sweep up dead scraps in a cloud of distemper, prop coffee cups and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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-4235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4235","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=4235"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4237,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4235\/revisions\/4237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>
\nIf this flat were the one and the chain held
\nand if we fell for \u2018String\u2019 by Farrow & Ball \u2013
\nor \u2018Cat\u2019s Paw\u2019, \u2018Joa\u2019s White\u2019 or whatever it\u2019s called –
\nwould we strip the ceiling rose and walls,
\nsweep up dead scraps in a cloud of distemper,
\nprop coffee cups and lean on ladders feeling
\npride in our sense of authenticity, moreover
\nif you popped the lids off tins revealing
\nthe perfect shade of beige to answer prayers
\nand if I asked with which hand would you hold
\nthe roller, would you mime the action, pause
\nto admire this period apartment we\u2019d been sold,
\nthen, changing sides, consider which was best
\nin mirror-image before pronouncing \u2018left\u2019?<\/p>\n