Moving On

There had been roses
around a wooden door.
Pink to make the boys wink
old as the hills kind of roses. 
And a lean-to shed,
heavy with nicotine stains
plummy congealed blood
marking the way underfoot
fat maggots plopping down,
from copper plumage above.
In the back bedroom
hung blue gingham curtains
thin enough to read till late
on long summer nights.
She had kissed the boy
from The Old Swan
on the lush spring lawn.
Cherry gloss lipstick
and glitter eyeshadow
smeared across his shirt.
The heels of her shoes
anchored in soft earth.

First published in the High Window: Issue 9 Spring 2018

Winner of The Bolton Poetry Competition 2017.
What the judges (Dr Evan Jones and Dr Ben Wilkinson) said:

“The winning poem, Shirley-Anne Kennedy’s ‘Moving On’, struck us for its precise and atmospheric use of language to conjure a sensual memory. It succeeds in inviting the reader to trespass on a private moment, eerily suspended, just as the speaker’s heels are “anchored in soft earth”