Amy B. Moreno writes poetry and prose for adults and children. She writes in English, Scots, and Spanish, including multilingual pieces. She has recently been published by Mslexia (Little Ms), The Common Breath, The London Reader, and DREICH.
The Old Chandler
I’ve returned to an old place
which is now not so old
and has made me feel older.
The tenements have been scrubbed up; pink-cheeked,
The windows look bright, flat, and antiseptic.
The front steps don’t bow their heads
at being grubby and worn;
they’ve got other things to be getting on with.
Like a sheet sliding off a mirror
some weeks after a death,
the Chandler’s ghost sign has been uncovered.
It sits on top of the baker’s;
A tenement granny getting a piggy back.
The pastries are curled up,
like Jim’s cat that used to doze
in the corner of the window
on the sunniest days.
They’re presented in woven baskets
that used to hang off the back wall.
The iced buns line up under glass; sugared firelighters.
The smells are warm; they wrap me up in bread blankets.
But, knees creaking down to the lower shelf,
I still catch that sharp finger-point of carbolic.
You can connect with Amy via Twitter and her previous contribution to The Ogilvie is accessible here.