Confectionery

Clutching the oil of peppermint
and green food colouring
I run up the road

to my friend’s house –
her Mum puts two stools
next to the table 

so we are tall enough to sieve
a flurry of icing sugar
straight on to the formica

with the addition of water
it turns as glossy
as a rink without blades

giddy with the scent
we pipette the peppermint 
into the mixture,

add the green colour,
a pane of stained glass,
cut out careful coins

for the fluttering pastels
of the petit-four cases –
I need six to take home

but forgot to bring a tin
cup one in each hand
put four in my duffle pocket

Mum raises an eyebrow
when I take them out
all stuck together

with their cups overturned
like Chinese hats
she’ll have to send the coat

to an expensive dry cleaner.

Sally Michaelson is a conference interpreter in Brussels. Her poems have been published in Ink, Sweat and Tears, Lighthouse, Algebra of Owls, The High Window, The Lake, Dreich, The Seventh Quarry, Squawk Back, The Bangor Literary Journal, The Jewish Literary Journal, London Grip, Hevria, The New Londoner, Idler, and Amethyst. Her first collection ‘The Boycott’ is being published by The High Window.