Geoffrey Winch
Love Rescinded
These days I only ever drive by with Streetview, but still I recall how it lived there at home with us. In the dining room and kitchen, and in the bedrooms – its voice sounded in every thoughtful word; its taste was in the meals mother made, its aromas in pipe smoke and polished shoe-leather, and always it was there in the satisfaction of father’s key opening the door as he arrived home from work.
In the garden it lingered among the blooms and in our ripening fruit; its perfumes became colours that flew on wings from bush to tree.
It healed scrapes and cuts, faded bruises, provided explanations and meanings – though, when we left and went our separate adult ways, we didn’t realise we were leaving it behind.
Number Ninety-three still stands – it’s not the same, but familiar.
second-hand
jewellery store
sparkling diamonds
bedded
on black velvet
About the Author
Geoffrey Winch, a retired highway engineer, writes free-form poetry, haiku, haibun, tanka, tanka prose, and cherita. He is the author of five poetry collections and lives on the south coast of England.