here they are/my grandparents/fixed on half smiles/it’s their ruby wedding/we are stuffed into a basement ballroom/welsh two star hotel/holiday they were coerced into by their only daughter/friends from church are here to honour them too/how did they get here?/driven of course/we all were/there’s a scent of salmon pate/my awful dress itches my neck/our faces are red/dead fish eyes/there are no windows/there has been a presentation of a crystal sugar bowl/the robin on the lid glistens in the disco light/i’d like to sing cry me a river/my mother is in the spotlight/murdering my heart will go on from titanic/wine glasses are squirming from our hands.

ANN GRANT is a writer with MS based in Cumbria, UK. Her poems have been included in The Poeming Pigeon, This Place I Know by Handstand Press, Survivor UK Zine CSA issue and Ink, Sweat & Tears. She hosts Verbalise spoken word open mics at Brewery Arts.