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Pen Portrait - Laura Strickland
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Laura Strickland was born in Shipley and now lives in North Yorkshire, where she is a carer for her son and a freelance HR consultant and leadership trainer. She has a degree in English Literature and Theology and Postgraduate qualifications in Law and Legal Practice. Her poems have been published in Northern Gravy and The North, and two poems will be published in the forthcoming Yaffle Press Anthology. She runs a monthly online poetry group with people she has met on writing courses. You can follow her on Twitter @LauraS_poet. Laura is mentored by the poet Kim Moore. |
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Caught in the Corner Shop
After Marie Howe I see her flying up the hill, wide-eyed, open mouthed, hair catching her ears and running to her front door with men from the shop behind her and behind them kids on bikes and skates knowing something is up. She doesn’t look at me. Just sidesteps the blanket I’ve laid out on the pavement to sunbathe and read magazines. Last week a group of us were in the shop. I put fizzy colas in my pocket and she stuffed 5 cream eggs up her cardigan, the foil peeping between the buttons. She must have gone alone today. The day she learned not to grass. The day I learned to keep my mouth shut. (First published in Northern Gravy, 2021) |