Emily Cotterill

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Branch Number

The general manager of this Wetherspoons has been promoted
beyond his skillset, the boy he hated at primary school is a man
now, arguing about licensing and buying a second pint of cider
while he sits for lunch with his son who is seven. A toddler is crushing
peas into the pattern of the carpet. Mayonnaise packets are massing
at the condiment station and boxes of frozen British Beef Lasagna
are waiting in the walk-in, long supply-chain miles from whoever
assembled them. Weekends are consistently repeating and I am lost
on the way to the ladies, where someone will have thrown up marketing’s
new beverage in an impossible shade of pink. A fruit machine rattles
with sounds unlikely to be victory. Business meeting and hangover
breakfast. The mums are in after swimming, chlorine hair catch-up,
J20s and paninis. These days are on draught, new locations coming

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EMILY COTTERILL is a Cardiff based poet originally from Alfreton, Derbyshire. Her first full length collection, Significant Wow, which examines pop-culture, storytelling, and reframing the mundane will be published by Seren in 2025.