Poetry

Changing Lives

Victoria Field

 

When Simon dresses as Claire, he
puts on more than a skirt. He wraps
his hardened heart in lace, makes memories
sparkle like jewels and squashes

his burliness under his bra. His longings
teeter on heels and his voice grows girlish
as his gusset. When he tosses his curls,
it seems the whole world dangles

in the tinkle of his laughter and all
the brightness falls from the summer air
to light up his eyes. As it did, that special day
never to be talked of since, when he

and the High Court Judge, passing as Julie
walked over Perranporth sands, hand in nail-varnished hand.