Out Chasing Boys

We spent summer on the seafront,
two stranded mermaids
killing time.
We rolled up our jeans,
carried our shoes,
blew kisses at the camera
in the photo booth.
Always out, chasing boys,
as if we had forever.
In the clamour and haze
of O’Reilly’s arcade,
we revered those rake-limbed lads
on the slot machines
as though they were gods,
not fishermen’s lads.
And our laughter cascaded
over penny falls,
as we pouted, hands on hips,
all flirt and glance,
eyes half-closed with the want
of something we didn’t understand.

Amanda Huggins is the author of the novellas All Our Squandered Beauty and Crossing the Lines, as well as four collections of short stories and poetry. She has won numerous awards, including three Saboteur Awards for poetry and fiction, the Colm Toibin International Short Story Award and the H E Bates Short Story Prize. She was also a runner-up in the Costa Short Story Award 2018 and the Fish Short Story Prize 2021, and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, The Alpine Fellowship Award and others. Amanda lives in Yorkshire and works as an editor and tutor.