Mslexia

Mslexia, the magazine for women who write | www.mslexia.co.uk

New Writing

She’s laid the table with grace, confident
that dining is a form of art: the plates
gleam, broad-chested generals, flanked
by a parade of silver regiments.
The dessert spoons soar above, European-style.
I’ve brought tulips, red with yellow tongues.
‘Oh,’ she sighs. ‘Just like back in Belgium.’

Her mother’s crystal goblets catch the light
here in New England; no one would guess
that they spent the war buried in a Flemish garden.
She tells me again how the Germans,
having commandeered the family home
near Ghent, bartered the heirloom service for twelve
to the nearest neighbour. She slices the bread.
‘Apparently,’ she says, ‘they were desperate for butter.’

JEANNETTE COOK, 41, has been a runner-up in two Mslexia Poetry Competitions, first in 2004 with ‘Hyacinth’ and again in 2005 with ‘Woman in Spain.’ She’s interested in experimenting with all forms of publication and is proud of the recent YouTube version of her poem ‘Button.’ She averages ten hours of writing a week – working part-time at the Stop Aids Alliance in Brussels and caring for a family inhibits her creative time. She likes Moleskine notebooks and thinks disconnecting from the internet is the best thing she’s done in years.

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