– Ursula K –
-
She keeps kingfishers in their cages
And goldfish in their bowls
She is lovely and is afraid
Of such things as growing cold.
She’s had enough men to please her
Though they were more cruel than kind
And their love an act of isolation,
A form of pantomime.
She says she has forgotten
The feelings that she shared
At various all-night parties
Among the couples on the stairs,
or among the songs and dancing
She was once open wide,
A girl dressed in denim
With boys dressed in lies.
She’s eating roses on toast with tulip butter,
Praying for her mirror to stay young;
On its no longer gilted surface
This message she has scrawled:
`O somewhere between Heaven and Woolworth’s
I live I love I scold
I keep kingfishers in their cages
And goldfish in their bowls.’
– Brian Patten