top of page

Shoplifting for Love by Michele Grieve


Lloyds Pharmacy offers belonging, compelling

me to attempt something sharper than a scream.

Errors follow trials.

Pearlescent eyeshadow sings the national anthem,

just to me.

Rehomed in my satchel and my conscience.


Wednesday collapses around “Coronation Street”.

The sofa buttering my aspirations. My transgression

flaming near the radiator, I tell her. She listens.


Foreign lands make me feel incompetent,

I do not have the words. Her samba-smoke

reassures she is no android, and I am no thief.

Naming a thing changes its identity.


_____________

Michele Grieve was Poet in Residence for The Urban Tree Festival 2022/23 and a DYCP recipient. After graduating from the Faber Academy Advanced Poetry Course in 2023, she was featured by WildFire Words and “Finding the Words”. She is currently preparing her first poetry pamphlet.


This poem was chosen by Anthropocene Guest Editor HLR.


0 comments

Comments


bottom of page