Six-Bed Student House, Available Now
Paint and time to spare, they reinvent
chairs in powder blue and lipstick pink,
tomato-orange chest of drawers,
feature wall, shabby chic.
Surprised, dismayed, the owners concede
it’s not, strictly speaking, prohibited
within the terms of the lease.
In the Jackson-Pollocked yard a canvas
big as the tiny car they moved with,
scruffy, lichened tubs of herbs,
cilantro, mint, camomile.
Monday to Friday exist in clean lines:
renal medicine, diabetes,
paediatrics, psychiatry.
In the kitchen, red pepper seedlings
stretch roots round an artfully tarnished sink.
Towel rails boast expansive courgettes
which begin to drip.
The year is ink and iodine,
mould and mud and turpentine,
Cherry Coke and students growing up.
Biography
Katharine Goda’s poems appear in blogs and anthologies: Play (The Broadsheet) and The Result is What You See Today (SmithǀDoorstop). Awards include: Highly Commended in Blue Nib Chapbook, Otley Poetry, YorkMix and Settle Sessions Competitions. She enjoys participating in writing workshops and is passionate about developing community creative writing opportunities.