Lena (2011)

[Cooper]

Lena

Gold
Rings in a tin
Full of lead
Pellets -
Extracted teeth
In a mass-grave full
Of fillings.

A Great Grandfather's ring -
Definitely
Gold.

There
Beside the black Mark II pin
A little plastic spyglass
With a photo
Of him
Who you have begun to resemble
So strikingly.

Hands heavy with sovereignty
It's no wonder she was
So tiny.
Crushed under
A glass, a bar stool
Thousands of cigarettes and infidelities
To that lonely discordant bed
Unaware, incoherent
A mass of jutting bones.

Where did her gold go?
Her treasure trove of old
Photos.
Stale eggs at Easter.
And those nails -
Like a witches we thought
Deftly wrapping themselves
Round a rolling machine,
Are probably still growing
Rat-a-tat-tatting
In a hole somewhere
At the bottom of an Urn.

They'd never burn.

[ray miller]

Took a few reads before I began to understand a little and enjoy a lot more. Liked this bit very much

Hands heavy with sovereignty
It's no wonder she was
So tiny.
Crushed under
A glass, a bar stool
Thousands of cigarettes and infidelities

But then the next 3 lines are a bit summat and nothing, I thought. Don't get the significance of the 2nd verse either or the stale eggs. But from And those nails is a great finish.