Pastel houses, neat as sweets,
the town hall like a fun house on a pier,
all pointed arches, pitched roofs, spires,
everything covered.
And that inn, where there was room,
but no sign anywhere, until you look
to the line on the pavement:
Lest we forget.
At the front, in the shop, a young man with Downs
hands out cards.
I make these, he says.
I live here.
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Tanya Parker
Tanya won the Yorkshire Open Poetry Competition in 2008 and the Rydale Competition in 2013. She was Reviews Editor for Dream Catcher Magazine for five years and has poetry published in Orbis Acumen, Other Poetry and Poetry Nottingham, amongst others. She appeared as guest writer on Helen Burke’s radio show ‘Word Salad’ for East Leeds FM (twice) and has performed in International Women’s Week with Real People Theatre. Tanya performed with Rose Drew in ‘She’s the Cultured One’ at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011, at the Galtres Festival in July 2013 and a specially-commissioned show at the Keats Shelley House in Rome in May 2014.Her first full-length poetry collection ‘The Problem with Beauty’ appeared with Stairwell Books in September 2015. She is currently working on an M.A in Creative Writing with Leeds Trinity University.
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