One Poem by Frangipanni

A cup of mate  

 

My footsteps echo down sterile corridors 

I gasp to see 

Strands of your silver hair 

Flowing over starched pillow 

I whisper a prayer 

 

Petal by petal 

We circle in to those days and years 

Cupboards piled with toys 

Visits to Heeley Farm 

Picnics in the park 

 

Feasting on spring rolls and sopialla 

Spiced with turmeric and merken flesh 

Flying our chestnut and raven crowns 

We danced with your compatriotas 

Who became mine 

 

Camping in Thornbridge 

Menus in Spanish 

How lost I felt when I was there 

How lost you were when you came here 

But with laughter we pleated Empendas  

 

It was with tears I watched 

Your tortured hands giving out kindness 

When once they had protested 

against Augusto Pinochet 

But then the coup d’etat 

 

The time on the bus when a woman 

Called you a black that should go home 

And strong from your hot bean soups 

When I gave suckle to my babe 

I stood to your defence 

 

I was pleased you were here 

Enjoying friendship 

But it was the dictator made you flee 

To be here 

And in this place of ‘other’ to accompany me 

 

You arranged the hoopla, 

Sand pits and paddling pools 

Whilst I painted smiles on the children’s faces 

Throwing wet sponges at Maggie Thatcher 

Little ones playing tags 

 

A trip to the seaside 

On a 40 seater with 60 to seat 

We all squeezed in 

Sandy toes, candy floss fingers 

Sleeping heads on mother’s laps 

 

Soon there will be no more 

At your bedside we talk about the kitten 

That dances after nothing 

Mischevious day and night 

As we watch you fade into light 

  

Frangipanni graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Sheffield Hallam University in 2015. Her short stories have been informed by her world travels exhibiting as an artist and presenting published papers at various international conferences. Many of her magic realism short stories, infused by cultural folklore, centre around greater care of the natural and urban environment.

Her creative memoir focuses on her female dual heritage, Chinese and English, in Britain. She has won various writing awards such as a Resurgence magazine competition and Bi’An runner up award for Chinese writers in Britain. In 2010 was awarded an art practiced based PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University. She has had short stories published in The Living and the Dead 2019 published by University of Bradford Press, the forthcoming Unity Anthology 2020 published by Barrio Blues Press, BBC Radio Leeds, and forthcoming Melbourne Culture Corner Issue 15.