Niall Machin

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Granny on the stairs

Granny has been on the stairs
For almost a week now.
I’m not sure the children recognise her –
A fairly anonymous green plastic bag
Containing a simple cardboard box
In fairness, it could easily be
An ill-judged internet clothes purchase waiting to be returned
Or newly arrived fish food.

Before her current location
Granny languished for several years in
Alex’s wardrobe, buried
Beneath and between boxes of seldom worn shoes
And draped in the exotic swishings of over-long
Jump suits

And back further, after her actual demise
She was in Hawarden Grove, SE24
On top of an alcove
In one of those dead spaces, so to speak

There’s talk of releasing Granny along the river
By a perfect cherry tree
With a G&T and perhaps a Phillip Larkin poem
(Although milk and whisky were more her staple)
And marvel once again at the old black and white photographs
Of the business woman surrounded by adoring 60s men in dapper suits
At London rooftop parties,
Or with Katie Boyle as beauty consultant

Driving over the Italian Alps first in a Bentley and
When the good times ebbed away,
A Morris Traveller.

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Originally from the Potteries, NIALL MACHIN moved to Bradford-on Avon ten years ago after a long stint living in London. An ex-twitcher, he has a lifelong passion for birds and is happiest wandering headlands or deep in Cornish valleys.