the women from the shop floor
compare notes – the new fore-
man’s cute. They speculate whether
he’s available and watch together
as he approaches the counter.
The girl behind the steaming urn
eyes him up as he waits his turn,
smiles and flutters lashes like spiders’ legs,
gives him an extra helping
of scrambled eggs.
The women grumble, what have they got
to offer? Armed with mugs and a pot,
they go up for a refill, glaring peroxide,
brash gold hoops and make-up tide,
thrusting busts and crossing arms.
The foreman’s in the middle of the crowd,
unsure why their voices are so loud,
their elbows bristling, and the tea girl’s red.
He shrugs on his authority like overalls
and says, ‘This is a canteen, make tea not war’.
Kim M. Russell, 2017
Image found on http://www.eyeopening.info
My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Out of Standard – Signs of the time
Isadora is presenting the mid-week prompt and we’re going out of standard. She challenges us to find new places in the everyday and sully the page with the unexpected. The prompt is simple: find an image of a protest sign and use that phrase in a poem that is not political.
writing in north norfolk 
Love it, love the close which made me smile.
If we really did make tea and not war and chat things over, reach a resolution, how much nicer the world would be.
Anna :o]
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Thank you, Anna! 🙂
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I love the scenario you created.
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There is a splinter of real life experience in this poem. 😊
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This is so clever!
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Thanks Mama Zen!
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I love the language, the setting, the tone… all right, I sort of love everything about this poem. I could see myself in there, with the people, enjoying the atmosphere, agreeing with them. It reads of home, real.
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I once worked for a pharmaceutical company with a mostly female packing team who nobody messed with! I wo
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Awesome, Kim! I was so there!
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Thank you, De!
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This could be my personal mantra. A good cuppa often saves the day.
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It does!
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You cannot argue against the lasting benefits of a good cuppa. I used to be a buyer for a company whose whole shop floor was young women. Birthdays were a nightmare.
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The picture in my head as I wrote this was a cross between Dinner Ladies, The Rag Trade and an old Peter Sellars film I can’t remember the name of!
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You pitched it perfectly then.
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I love the care you took to wrap a whole story around the tagline from the sign. The girls and their struggles internal and some external. Thanks for posting and viva la!
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Thanks Isadora! I enjoyed the prompt – it was different!
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Brava!
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Merci!
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This made me giggle!
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🙂
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