I bought a pair of discount angels made from yellow plastic
one man one woman wings cost extra so I forked out a little
more and took them home to begin their new life of
watching out for me. They tell me they are many and I am
one so I tell them they can share the spare room and eat
with me at the table and I’m not at all surprised when the
council pays me a visit and says angels anywhere in the
house are against the rules for short stay rentals.
Six inches high, muscular and compelling, I went to take
another look make sure they were there – the door
was crying on its hinges yellow plastic glinting in the trees
like sunshine and the angels gone

I shouldn’t have paid extra for the wings.

Christine Paice

 

Christine Paice is a poet and writer. She has published two poetry collections, Mad Oaks and Staring at the Aral Sea (Ginninderra Press 2003 and 2008), and a children’s book, The Great Rock Whale (Hachette Australia 2009 ). She was winner of the Josephine Ulrick Award for poetry in 2009 with The Ministry of Going In. Her poem, ‘The Quality of Light’, was shortlisted for the Blake Poetry Prize 2013. Christine’s debut adult fiction novel, The Word Ghost, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2014.

© 2018