after Sharon Olds
Gran weeping into her rosary beads
on the council house floor
Fair View, Esh Winning.
The green corduroy couch, her
altar. Grandad consulting the bees
as if preparing for death.
Mam standing outside the
Civic, under the sculpture
of the River God Tyne,
sea horse neck, stone hand,
outstretched like a fist.
Mam in a strapless blue dress,
platform cork shoes, long hair
swishing like a curtain.
Dad all sideburns and wing floral shirt,
standing by the water feature,
five stone swans in flight.
How long does it take to
find two bystanders
as witnesses for the wedding register?
And Gran still praying, still weeping,
for Mam, not long out of Winterton.
Mam plucked up, as thin as a
gossamer dress on a wire coat hanger.
Rachel Burns
