Anna Crawford

Grandma Reappears

My eight year old said mummy I want to fly
on a dragon I’m not afraid we’re all going

to die when do we get so good at lying
to ourselves we are feeding our bodies

into growing mouths whilst we’re still
here but we maintain grandma reappears

when we split the wolf open in the forest
white filaments of fungi thread through pines

parasites set in wet wood bloats with larvae
underneath it small lives thrive and multiply

sPeckled panes

They are crowded in the corners of the kitchen, cleaving

meat, frying onions. A carousel of red dragons, with tails

thrashing. I watch my short feet slide between squares,

patchworked mahogany. Roast chestnut, nutmeg boxes.

Words bubble like lava, surfaces surrounding me are open

trapdoors. Everybody talks. Nobody says what they think.

The room outside is a blister, misted. Streaming contents

from a party popper across a cold forest. Wicker under-

story, canopies of floral marshmallow mould to limbs

like wet plaster. Yucca plants glisten in lace shawls,

we skate on frozen panes speckled with little friends

dancing. These memories may be as reliable as people.

I hop to a layer of caribou skin laid out on the glacier

half crisp, moss coloured. Tea-time comes with my kitten

curled like a cosy, melting my toes. Tiny plastic play

set. Do only children feel they can hide, in full view?

Cups in precise lines, swirling with liquid, cream, sugar

according to the need of every speck. Suddenly the dog –

claws scratching, spinning, tail whacking, trails slush

mulching with dust, ham tongue licks. Makes me smell

metal. My grandma has him choked sideways by the collar,

eyes popping, whimpers echo. We craft the perfect reaction

in retrospect. Work hard to unlearn preferences. Look up

to cornflowers, breathe in cotton, puff out dragon smoke. 

Anna Mindel Crawford’s poems have been published in Poetry Lighthouse, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Propel Magazine and Wildfire Words. Her poetry was shortlisted in Wolverhampton and Richmond Arts Festivals in 2025, longlisted in the Rialto Nature & Place Poetry Competition 2025, won first prize in Clevedon Literary Festival 2023, and runner up in Shooter Magazine Competition 2024 and Edward Thomas Competition 2025.

Anna made the following comment about her poems:

The style of “Speckled Panes” was inspired by Lyn Hejinian’s “My Life” and is intended to convey a snapshot of my childhood memories through physical and sensory details and the feelings they evoke, sometimes unsettling, but providing a window for interpreting the present.

 “Grandma Reappears” echoes similar characters and mythology, incorporating my own child’s perspective and exploring change, loss and acceptance. Space and punctuation are disrupted to express the unending and intertwined nature of change and loss and the threat this may pose.