Tuesday Poem - Girl

GIRL

for Ali, aged fifteen

You're all prickles today

a native pyracantha

snapping and wrapping

the house in a barbed-wire

mantle.

There are tacks

underfoot, an armoury

of weapons

at the back door

a legacy of lead.

Your mouth

is a live coat hanger

a twist of wire firing

into unexpected

Alexander Calder shapes.

Despite the jabs

the flicks and flays

all the elements are here

for a mobile shape

of extraordinary aesthetic.

When winds thrash

and sharp shards fly

there can be no denying

the whole damned gorgeous

truth of you.

CB

Girl appears in my collection Open Book - Poetry & Images , published by Steele Roberts (2007).

Ali is now twenty-five. We weathered some spectacular teenage storms and, yes, she's gorgeous!

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