Sue Rose

Sue Rose is a literary translator with an MPhil in writing. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies (including Images of Women, SLN/Arrowhead) and her first collection, The Dark Room, is forthcoming from bluechrome publishing.

The Seamstress at Queille

She stands by the pool
watching the girl break

the clouds’ reflection
over and over–

soon it will be time
to bid her change

the skin of water
for satin that will trail

down crumbling steps
behind her like a shadow

to the cool chapel,
air clothing her arms

in gooseflesh, vows
resonant in the domed silence.

When the invisible sun dips,
the seamstress will come again

to mar her pure creation.
Shearing off the train

with mottled hands,
attar-scented, she’ll free

the bride from her fluid serpent
so she can tramp the dirt

to the beat of the tambour
in the lantern light, white roses

frothing down the wall,
petals hemmed with brown.

Sue Rose

Poem published: The French Literary Review, Issue 10, October 2008.

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