Page 65 - The Woven Tale Press Vol. V #3

amanda oosthuizEn
A Red Zip
A red zip in a black jacket
isn’t smart or chic. I tell you this, for I wore one years ago,
and in the end, its story sliced me into two.
A red child’s chair abandoned by the kerb, and tipped into the road where, for a week, leaves drift around
the open square
of its legs.
And you wonder why, as do I.
A red stain on a manhole cover
tells of a mess of flesh,
of roadkill in a pale grey pail,
not to be looked at twice by me or you, unless you are a fox.
A red tin box of photographs, spilled on the grass,
where, from the back of a van, you or I can buy
a history readymade and still forgotten.
A red zip in a black jacket isn’t smart or chic, instead it tells a story
of wonder and defeat.
Oosthuizen’s works have been shortlisted for the Bristol Prize, the Asham Awards, and the Lightship Memoir Prize; she has been awarded the Ian St. James Award and has won the NADFAS Poetry Competition. Her work has been published in the Bristol Prize Anthology as well as various BBC magazines.
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