baby

under the plastic rain-cover

the tiny brown toes curl and flex

but he sleeps on

daughter

in the sweltering afternoon

she awakens crumpled from sleep

and the curly embroidered design

of the duvet cover

is embossed onto her pink skin

the power of advertising

a very small boy is captivated by the pretty lady with a purple tongue

while his dad tried to gently coax him to nursery

life story

two jobs, two wives, knows about horses but not a Mancunian

in the four or five minutes that we wait for the bus

the man tells me his entire life

shoes

very shiny, very black and very high, a pair of stilettos

teeters carefully ahead of me along the uneven pavement

strawberries

as I chop the strawberries the tiny cut on my thumb

stings exquisitely in anticipation

muddy boots

the students have been out in the rain

celebrating the end of exams

muddy boots adorn doorsteps and porches

and lie in heaps on the street

7 days unlimited travel

sunlight streams in through the bus window and

my arm, braced tight against the seat in front,

bears this bizarre shadowy tattoo along it's length

Summer

a newly opened deep pink rosebud

unseen a bee buzzes frenetically inside