LUNCH POEMS – ELIZABETH GIBSON

 

 

SWEET

 

The guy in his sweet shop, framed by shelves and walls

of candy, colourful laces and prices for jelly mix – 80p

for 100g, the 8 pasted on where the price must have changed

over the years. Sweetman, declares the orange frontage

above his head. He poises between tubs of lollipops and

 

swirling cartons of green and yellow slush, in a little

space that is all his own, in one second that is all ours,

before he serves someone else and life goes on. He smiles,

tongue in cheek, eyes dancing, amused. I only spot him

going through my photos later – I didn’t know he saw me.

 

 

Liz Gibson

 

Our lunch poems workshop, exploring street writing and photography, took place in Leeds in April 2019 led by poet Andrew McMillan and photographer Lizzie Coombes.