Strange Brew

Anne dances to the beat of my childish heart,
sings to cobwebbed spiders.
She is nanny number five,
my own Mary Poppins.

By the light of a wolf moon,
my father turns mad.
Anne whispers to a girl in the wind,
and a friend blows into my life.

The friend is greedy for what is mine.
My books become hers,
my dolls answer only to her.
She burns me with just-spent matches.

Anne has stolen my birth stone,
dumped a changeling in my nest.

She sings as she stirs broth for my mother.

Jenny Robb has been writing since retiring from a social work and NHS career, mainly in mental health. She’s been published widely and has two collections with Yaffle Press: The Doll’s Hospital, 2022, and Hear the World Explode, 2024. X: @jirobb Instagram: jenny_robb