Ella Cunningham

Ella Cunningham



I never met my grandmother

What about the clothes on the washing line
what about the hot pink plastic pegs
and their tight coils caked in the rust
of wirral summer after wirral spring
what about the most gentle first light,
where is that, and why, when it’s not peeking
between the arches of the aqueduct?
One by one, the yards of the neighbours
empty and refill as they move in and out
of hospitals, what about the photograph 
of all of you sat on lawn chairs tilting 
on the flagstones, grinning for the camera,
what about grief? The lot of you, caked in it.






ELLA CUNNINGHAM is a queer poet from Chester, UK. She has recently completed an MA in creative writing at Oxford Brookes. Her work can be found in Honey & Lime, Poetry Bus and Porridge, amongst others. She tweets @ellamadalene.