Sarah has been published in Strix, Anthropocene, Agenda and Under the Radar, amongst others. A pamphlet, The Withering Room, was published by Green Bottle Press in 2015 and was the London Review Bookshop’s pamphlet of the year. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Instagram: @sib_sarah.
creosote pete
In grocery aisles, they joke
about the traps he bought
to catch women;
snaring them in Howe Wood
around St Stephen’s –
he was never lonely at Christmas.
When his wife died,
he drifted out of sight;
a stream underground,
he emerged like some sacred spring
from which they all drink:
Linda, Lucy, now Jean from No. 2 –
puffing Cutters Choice
in her leopard Lycra bodysuit.
In the chilled aisle,
he snatches vac-packed slices
of local bacon, then Nairn’s Oatcakes,
and a Ghost Ship for later.
He nods to the old shopkeeper,
who’s been force-feeding him
shepherd’s pie for fixing her tail light
and is sizing him up for a winter jumper.
In the queue, he pushes coins
round a dust-bowl palm
with an earthy finger,
his grey-whiskered whippet sniffing
his for-all-things boots:
silt and clay, paint drips,
falling bricks, shooting embers.
At home, Jean wears his rough wool jumper
with bunny slippers. Her bedroom
smells of nicotine and Avon Far Away.
Late at night, she lies draped over Pete
between clammy ‘silk’ sheets. Outside,
cat fights that sound like babies crying.
Sarah Sibley