They offer to email us the NHS template
for rainbows
knowing how they want our window to be.
But we fill the glass from inside
as if we are pressing our desire to connect
against the panes.
We do this with jokes and colours,
with multiple keyworkers and love.
We draw caricatures of ourselves
we sketch bin trucks, delivery vans, letters.
We paint pigs, aardvarks, hippos.
We add wax patterns to Easter eggs
and place cuddly toys
so they can be spotted
from the road
to break up those short and long walks
of the young and the old.
Couples slow down their march
to share some words and a smile.
So, no, thanks for the offer.
We will not fit in a rainbow template.
We would never choose to.
We sprawl and splay across our space
and send our play out into the world.
We will not fit on one piece of A4.
………………
Sarah L Dixon lives in Linthwaite. Adding wax patterns to Wednesday was released by Three Drops Press in 2018. Her first book, The sky is cracked, was released by Half Moon Press in 2017. Sarah’s inspiration comes from being in and by water and adventures with her son, Frank. Website here.