TRAINEE TEACHER

Emma Lara Jones


For the children's sake
they tried to be nice
although she was just
a bean bag
and everywhere she went
she leaked
annoying little beans
across the class and corridors.
They could have offered
to stitch her up.
They swore they offered
several times
but she wouldn't listen
until one Tuesday
            they watched
as the last bean
            rolled out of her.

Emma Lara Jones lives in Felixstowe. She was shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize (2023) and has poems published in Artemis and forthcoming in Strix.