OLD MISS BARTRAM (2007)
Miss Bartram gave her name to a squid
O bartrami and came back from the dead
a skeleton walking walking dead
old skeleton in a russet dress
shaking rattling ramshackle bones
I saw Miss Bartram come back from the dead
kindly toy calf head rubbed three days dead
tent-pole dislocate dinosaur hump
her bones came clattering down the street
russet day-coat, apron, dress.
Miss Bartram gave her name to a squid
a huge tall woman though somewhat bent
knit bullet-proof cosies for church bazaars
rhubarb raspberry lemon curd
dove dived when she wasn’t doing this
for still undiscovered deep-sea squid
Victoria Sandwich trembling hands
Miss Bartram came knocking back from the dead
ramshackle rattling rubbed-off skull head
russet day-coat, apron, dress.
Published in Pressed by Unseen Feet: An Anthology of Ghostly Writing (2012), edited by Rose Drew and Alan Gillot and published by Stairwell Books.