She’s a one woman band

By Barbara Saunders

In the time it takes to sing this / she can head and tail your fish
She snips snippety-snip / hunts with good will
She’s a one woman band / see her skill 

Shaking crushed ice / weighing the price / nips and tucks into bags
Like a plastic surgeon / sticks a price on
She lost her constellation / last star in Orion 

She knows what you mean when you say, Usual please
Heads and Tails? / Guts please / Just give me guts
And she smiles / And you ask, How are you? 

Today, not so good / At 4.30 a.m. / I slipped on the ice
Cracked my head / Twice / It ricocheted –
Shaking crushed ice / weighing the price 

I called 111 / They said Get a scan / So she’s up at the A&E
Shaking crushed ice / getting the CT / but it’s OK
She’s a one woman band 

Someone commands / Fetch a fresh tray / This fish isn’t fresh
She pulls out trout so fresh / rainbows melt in your mouth
She stands and waits / long knives in hand 

She’s calm / Angry people with knives don’t last long
Fresh every day / from the same tray
She won’t grant this wish 

Skate wings / pink tinged like angels / a brown carp
Orange spots / lolling on slab / a Monk Fish
Vicious / one once grabbed her arm 

In the time it takes to sing this / she can head and tail your fish
You can say, Usual please / She knows just what you mean
Heads and Tails? / Guts please / Just give me guts 

She lost her constellation / last star in Orion
She snips snippety-snip / hunts with good will
She’s a one woman band / see her skill

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Written Word ‘Hand’ poems