| After the rain, we fetch the fish n chips we didn’t have yesterday, share them in the car at Derby Road playing fields. Then, a stroll round Dishley Pond, dodging puddles, and down to the point where Black Brook meets The Soar. Fifteen balls, a green pepper, a plastic cat, several logs and plastic tat gather behind the grate. Rob fishes out a blue squeaky ball and the plastic cat, with a stick. Polly jumps in. Rob fishes Polly out. Along comes Jud, walking the towpath. We have a socially distanced conversation. Buster jumps in. Rob fishes Buster out. We continue towards Normanton, towards the setting sun. Wish The Plough was open for a pint. Turn back just past the chain bridge. Willow leaves shimmy and shimmer at the water’s edge, sunlight blazes off the old Astra Zeneca tower. Clover and chamomile. A lone poppy bobs its blooded head. |
| Lauren M Foster is a writer, artist and musician based in Charnwood, Leicestershire. She has been published in The New Luciad, DIY Poets, An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Leicester and more, and holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Leicester. She performs her work on a regular basis and is the drummer and singer in a garage-punk band, The Cars That Ate Paris. |