Firetrap
Zhinnia sparks her lighter, watches
the flame bloom the face she loves
to a lie of rosiness.
They’ve got candles, filched vodka, cheapest cider.
Brisket’s purrs make warm storm-clouds
of the old sofa cushions and crochet blankets
they’d saved from a skip.
You’re different, Zee, special, like.
Kayla’s dad isn’t around to haunt the shed anymore;
her mum keeps talking about knocking it down,
getting a pergola.
Zee, I’ve fallen for someone.
Everything is purring, purring, purring,
baccy flake confetti freefall,
creosote tang and White Musk,
The most beautiful firetrap
just aching to burn.
.
Holly Magill’s poetry has appeared in numerous magazines, including The Interpreter’s House and Bare Fiction, and anthologies –Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Arches Press) and #MeToo: A Women’s Poetry Anthology (Fair Acre Press). She co-edits Atrium – www.atriumpoetry.com. Her debut pamphlet, The Becoming of Lady Flambé, is available from Indigo Dreams Publishing: http://www.indigodreams.co.uk/holly-magill/4594330527
Abegail Morley 