Two Poems by Lauren Foster

Lauren Foster is studying for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. Her work has appeared in The New Luciad and other anthologies, and she has performed her work at poetry events such as Word! and Lyric Lounge. 

Of You, with Flowers

Of you, with flowers
in your hands

scabious, harebell, gypsy rose
campion, burnet, Bradda weed.

You skip down Micklow Lane
alone, even then,

in meadows
or observing tadpoles

in the glassy water
of the spring fed 

limestone trough
next to the barn 

where you found
the dead sheep,

birthing no joy 
for this ewe.

Chubby, glasses,
friends few

but you knew 
all the names

of the flowers
back then.

Wednesday

Pass the Clock Tower 
to hip hop rap 
about how we know.   
Someone offers the Big Issue: 
decline, walk on.  
Clarinet soars 
over squawk of traffic.  
Not quite blue skies 
speak of things to come.  
In a shop window: 
everything must go.