The Bakery on Portobello Road
by and published in Edition Four of Pomegranate
The air smelled of – lemony decadence,
Bruised roses and gilt lavender biscuits.
A sort of light, hummingbird elegance,
Among silver stands, scales, twisted baskets
And forget-me-nots, all sugared and sweet.
Eggs-and-butter fold in on each other,
And plump fairy cakes rise, coyly discreet.
Golden heads: decked with curls, swirls, a smother
Of thick icing. It was late afternoon,
The bloated sun swinging charred and low,
Marble-deep in the sky, a parched lagoon.
The street of frayed tarpaulin and shadow;
A lost bazaar: old dice, leather and keys,
Reclusive with memory, cracked and worn.
Vague fingerprints, where their hands used to be.
The sky stretched back in a cranberry yawn
Which rattled the china cups, made them blush
Against their lily-bone cheeks and Chai stare.
I peel back paper; crumbs spill with a rush,
Like daises tumbling, shaken from my hair.
Annabella Massey
Annabella Massey was one of the commended poets for the 2006 Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, and on the final shortlist for the Christopher Tower Poetry Competition 2007. She has poems forthcoming in the next Tower Poetry anthology. She is twenty-one years old, and currently in her second year reading English Literature and Creative Writing at Warwick University.