The BIG SHOCK
He was her everything until
the BIG SHOCK came and
he became hiding thing.
King of the hopeless duvet.
She coaxed him out with breakfast:
She was Anchor butter, smearing
sunshine over the heavy morning.
She was a vase of chrysanthemums,
laid his table with bright fruit,
orange juice, and a packet of pills.
She cracked eggs for his omelette,
made break the ice jokes. Fell in.
What a performance!
Things flew around the room
in a poltergeist display.
All the quiet things became loud,
and all the safe places, dangerous.
The furniture looked on.
Knew what she would become—
inert as a chopping board.
Grey as a tiled floor.
Michelle Diaz lives in Glastonbury. Her debut pamphlet 'The Dancing Boy' was published by Against the Grain in 2019. She has been published in numerous magazines such as 14 Magazine, Under the Radar and Candlestick Press. She was recently nominated for The Forward Prize in the Single Poem category.
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