Neutrals Don’t Suit Anyone
A one bed flat is hardly
likely to be kitted out
ready for a House Beautiful
photographer, but even here,
the run-down part of the city
smooth textiles in neutrals,
cover windows, except one.
A flash of gold, a brief sunny
spell picking up its glittery
strands. The sort of fabric
that could be a barely-there
dress which outshines
the outsized sequins
complementing the huge
hoop earrings, tall beehive,
platformed stilettoes
siren red smile, heavy kohl
worn by someone out
for a night of drowning
sorrows, a few hours
before tottering home
to a single bed. A kitchen
that would just about cope
with a hangover busting fry-up.
A shower to flatten hair
to accommodate a wireless
headset, an office suit, a smile
that never reaches the eyes.
© 2024 Emma Lee
Keep it Real
Slick suits and shades slide across a stage,
the singers’ mouths obscured by headset mics,
the choreographed moves muffle accents.
In a standing room only venue where the roadie kicks
the amp into action, the sound engineer compensates
for the quirks of a cobbled-together set-up. A broken
string could throw the rhythm, a spilt beer could
electrocute a guitarist, the crowd could drown the vocals.
The suits shimmy off stage and are ushered to a dressing
room where they wait to be bused to a hotel. Wash,
rinse, repeat. Every minute scheduled, accounted.
The men in jeans, faded tees, rough shirts step over
the sticky patches, taped wires, plug in, limber up.
There’s an hour’s workout ahead. Music thumps against
a ribcage, loosening the heart’s imagination before
it’s burnt by a stubbed cigarette, leaving smoke.
It’s too easy to say the suited choreographed
singer/dancers wouldn’t last five minutes in the bar.
Their lyrics an opaque gloss of unknown lives.
The bar band shy off stage, stamped applause
vibrates through the floor. This is their moment,
a hyped audience vibrant in the post-gig shadows,
band absent, music still thrumming through the amps,
kept alive by the memories of people now drifting home.
© 2024 Emma Lee
Emma Lee’s publications include The Significance of a Dress (Arachne, 2020) and Ghosts in the Desert (IDP, 2015). She co-edited Over Land, Over Sea, (Five Leaves, 2015), reviews for magazines and blogs at https://emmalee1.wordpress.com.
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