The Days of Maggie Spencer

Pouring bleach down the toilet,
her mind goes back to how
she’d got there; this shitty,
council maisonette – hiding
from her past...Day in, day out –
cleaning up his, and her kids’ mess.

Stands up just where she is –
loo-brush in hand...her eyes
scanning the flora and fauna
breeding on the bathroom tiles;
runs her fingers down her dress.
Just imagine – once upon a time,
she’d turned many a head.

Her thoughts regress to a job
she used to have – cashier
at a local garage – truckers
with their rigs; romantic
in an odd kind of way.
She’d watch them roll out –
disappear into the night.

‘For God’s sake take me
with you,’ she’d whisper,
under her breath, till one day –
one did. No prince on white
charger, but he’d promised
her his ship would soon come in,
and ten years down the road
she was still waiting.

Wipes a tooth-paste spattered
bathroom mirror – picks up
toe-nail clippings from the floor.
In the street outside, an ice-cream
van chimes its off-key rendition
of Greensleeves; the story of her life.