last call

by Annabel Mitchell

last call I’m sure you heard it

echoed down to the garden

please thank you well I wouldn’t trouble

you

thinking of being a poet a baker

an arboretum photographer

thirty five cents and a tin of tuna

weird word isn’t it really

arbor – e – tum

tastes oversaturated

like stone bridges and stainless steel taps

and the bricks left over from the old mill

I saw a deer on the train well it wasn’t

on the train I was but I saw it out there

poised all ears and haunches and alone

the sea sparkles when you look at it

haven’t

you noticed haven’t you haven’t you

please thank you and good

night

Annabel Mitchell lives, works and writes in Leith, Edinburgh and has a degree in Classical Studies and English from St Andrews.