King Tak Hong Porcelain, Queens Road East, Wanchai

I wanted the pottery pumpkin, ten-lobed
                in yellow, red and green.
I wanted to sit at home on the barrel stool
                with its wraparound blue mountains
I would have wanted the dragon cake-stand
                if it hadn’t had a gold edge.
 
I needed dishes for earrings and soy-sauce
                half a dozen lids to hold my tea’s heat.
I wanted the soap-green plastic coat-hangers
                with the swivel hook, plus pencil pots
brushed with wrist-flicky crustaceans, waving
                their one-stroke feelers under glaze.
 
I wanted fifteen years of my life back,
                to start here again, bone-china skinned
and mouthy, a pale flag of sweat drawing down
                the neon blaze of the Cup Noodle Building
onto my skinny chest. I wanted the slowed replay,
                to share it with you once over.
 
My wish list: our first date in the hardware shop.
                (I’ve kept both of the green mugs
now full of sensitive toothbrushes and floss);
                some other things I’ve thought better of since;
most of all that night-long bare-faced seduction
                under the cool eyes of your tropical fish.
 

Judy Brown

1st Prize, Café Writers Open Poetry Competition 2013