Lydia Unsworth

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Plastic Dinosaur

I wanted a plastic dinosaur for my baby girl but I didn’t want to buy one because plastic and prices
for that plastic both actual and actual and so on. So I waited. And even that one time when the
plastic was really cheap and I picked it up and deliberated a little, I ultimately put it down and
said, no, we don’t need it. Today, walking home from work, there was a box on the street that
had all this plastic crap inside and had written on the side the word gratis. I stopped and looked
and picked three plastic dinosaurs up and couldn’t believe my luck, or how quickly I had moved
and swooped, like I’d always been marching past things and moving and swooping. Tonight, my
baby kissed one of the new dinosaurs a lot and said dinosaur and wouldn’t go to sleep without
holding on to it. I figure owning a house will be like that. I want a real-life house for my baby girl
but I don’t want to buy one because trapped and prices for that trapped and can’t afford it
anyway and so on. So I wait, and even that one time we picked up the topic and discussed it
a little, I ultimately put it down because we are never going to be able to dig into this ground. 

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LYDIA UNSWORTH is the author of two collections of poetry: Certain Manoeuvres (KFS, 2018) and Nostalgia for Bodies (Winner of the 2018 Erbacce Poetry Prize), and two pamphlets. Her latest pamphlet will be released by KFS Press in 2020.

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