How to Lose a Friend

by Fiona Sinclair

If we were blokes, the crime would be cancelled
with punch up and pint.
But in a Bluewater coffee shop
your PhD brain sinks too deep a shaft for my shallow poem.
The tribute of Maria Antoinette wedge wood figurine
misinterpreted not as a beauty but a bitch.
I’m a little bit offended grows like an aggressive cancer
in shoe shops as you examine brogues,
whilst I try to scratch out the evidence with blunt excuses.
Delivering you home, I feel a cold draft
as you slam the car door against me.
Months tallying your phone silence,
deterred from calling myself by the guard- dog husband.
Then at Christmas a Best wishes from the family.
Now, the merest jolt triggers memories of
high heels and hats for twin birthday treats,
a phone call at 8.30 stirs false hope,
fluffy cardy on a clothes rail prompts Oh she would like this.
Despite heart to hearts with a new friend,
and raucous nights out with another,
I find that there is no under-study for your friendship.

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Fiona Sinclair’s work has appeared in numerous publications. Her second pamphlet A Game of Hide and Seek is due out in May from Indigo Dreams Press. She is the editor of the online poetry magazine Message in a Bottle.