Black Mascara (Waterproof) E-Book

Rosalind Easton

• Herausgeber: The Poetry Business
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Serie: The International Book & Pamphlet Competition
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 21

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

In Rosalind Easton's lively and inventive debut collection, everyday objects are invested with glamour and drama: a mascara wand and a pair of peacock suede stilettos are brought to life in poems exploring the complexities of relationships, and a Mayfair lingerie store provides the setting for a transformative bra fitting experience. A diverse range of literary and cultural references inspires several poems, with the poet's grandmother coming back to life as a book to 'play intellectual drinking games with Shakespeare', and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor taking over the running of a secondary school. In other poems, Tilda Swinton's magazine photo shoot as David Bowie sparks an exploration of the relationship between history and identity, and a night at the Shepherd's Bush Empire with Suede becomes a celebration of the enduring power of teenage memories.

Leseprobe

Published 2021 by

Smith|Doorstop Books

The Poetry Business

Campo House,

54 Campo Lane,

Sheffield S1 2EG

Copyright © Rosalind Easton

All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-1-912196-41-8

ePub ISBN 978-1-912196-51-7

Typeset by The Poetry Business

Printed by People for Print

Smith|Doorstop Books are a member of Inpress:

www.inpressbooks.co.uk

Distributed by NBN International, 1 Deltic Avenue,

Rooksley, Milton Keynes MK13 8LD

The Poetry Business gratefully acknowledges the support of

Arts Council England.

Contents

Found in Translation

Campagnolo Super Record

Did I Dent Your Car with My Head?

Girl as Bike

Bra Fitting, Mayfair

Lunchtime on Threadneedle Street

The Light Museum

Drinks Party, London Skyline

The Music Stand

The Microphone

The Undiminished Magnificence of Brett Anderson

Tilda Swinton as David Bowie

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor Take Over the Academy

Backstage

Closet

Peacock Suede Stilettos

Black Mascara (Waterproof)

for my nieces

Anabel, Georgia and Margot

Found in Translation

i.m. Nora Newton (1929–2015)

A grandam’s name is little less in love

than is the doting title of a mother;

they are as children but one step below …

Richard III

Of course I should have realised you’d come back

as a book. It was in Hatchards on Piccadilly, in the Classics

section; the shelves were out of alphabetical order –

Galsworthy, Trollope, Austen, Eliot side-by-side.

Just as I was thinking I wonder, I heard

your laugh, and there you were – a slender, sparkling volume,

looking quite at home in such illustrious company,

your handwritten name running down the spine. Evelyn Waugh

was serving at the till. There’s no charge, he said.

She’s been waiting for you. I took you home and put you

next to Dickens and Gaskell, hoping you’d find some people there

you could get on with. In the evenings I’d sit cross-legged on the carpet

with a glass of wine, listening, enthralled, to you in your element:

on the poetry shelf, Milton’s pages ruffled with pride to hear

that you’d learnt Lycidas by heart at seventeen; Wordsworth acknowledged

that your annotations on ‘The Prelude’ had deepened his understanding.

Best of all was the intellectually superior drinking game

with Shakespeare: he’d call out the number of a sonnet,

you’d recite it, word-perfect, your reward a shot of apricot brandy.

You read my childhood favourites to me again, your drama-school voice

(not a trace of Manchester left in it) still just right, somehow, for

The Famous Five and Malory Towers, but I liked your New Jersey drawl

for Judy Blume’s Freckle Juice best, which brought you to the attention

of George Gershwin and Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra

sleeping off champagne hangovers in Biography; the four of you sang