Paula Green

       After Modernism           

            After Modernism I walked to the shops
            to buy a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk
            with the leaffrocked wind in my hair
            and the waterlogged tyre in my ear
            and the backblock road in my eye
            and the woebegone fog in my nose
            and the forgetmenot paper in my hand
            and the slipknot word on my cheek
            and the crisscrossed sign on my thigh
            and the defrosted pronoun on my brow.
 
            I saw a flowerpot that looked a lot like gorse
            gorse that looked a lot like barleycorn
            barleycorn that looked a lot like a harpsichord
            a harpsichord that looked a lot like a hobbyhorse.