Blood Red Dress

For your daughter
You buy,
A scarlet dress
Shot with silver shimmering thread,
Pure white bolero cardigan,
Ankle socks,
Five pairs of them
Trimmed with broderie anglaise
And an ersatz Cath Kidston handbag,
All for less than twenty euro.

At home, on the television
In the heat of Bangladesh,
Survivors hurtle
Down fabric makeshift slides
Over rubble,
Over dead bodies,
Three hundred, they have estimated.

You hear,
The next day,
Survivors
Still being hauled
From under heavy dry rubble.
The number of dead has risen,
Close to four hundred and
Primark say,
They'll compensate
The victims' families,
The orphaned children.

And all this
So your daughter can wear,
A scarlet dress
Imbued
With shimmering
Silver,
Sweat,
Blood,
Tears.

© Angela Finn

Primark to aid Bangladesh disaster families

Angela Finn lives in Dublin. She has been shortlisted for the Francis MacManus and Penguin Short Story competitions 2012 and came third in the 2013 Fish Short Memoir competition.

Legend

The singer/guitarist ‘Richie’ Havens
was the opening artiste at Woodstock.
Performing from 5 o’clock till seven
he launched the famed Festival of rock
which was to acquire legendary status.
It was billed as an Aquarian exposition,
a stirring and inspired musical afflatus
that generated excellent compositions.
It was to enhance Richard’s reputation,
a major turning point in his career.
Applauded by the crowd on location,
his many encores drew the biggest cheer.
Who can forget his “Motherless Child”?
Hearing the words of this haunting song
the concert-goers went completely wild
and the emotion that they felt was strong.
Alas, this musical colossus is no more
but his name is consigned to posterity;
we won’t be able to listen to his encores
and that for genuine fans is a calamity.

© Luigi Pagano 2013

Woodstock icon Richie Haven dies

Luigi Pagano is a contributor to Poetry24 and other websites. He has published three poetry collections the latest of which is Poetry On Tap.