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Red Images

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by Matilda Sykes

RED IMAGES

I. the interior of the bar you picked. I sipped my martini, trying to conceal the grimace it provoked.

II. a red zipper on my bag which you toyed with – the gesture hung in the air.

III. the bus that broke in on our ambling and vocalised shared hopes that the evening might continue elsewhere.

IV. your door.

V. the cover of a book written by someone sharing your surname. I was so quiet.

VI. a rusty swathe of colour in an ab-ex painting. we were in the kitchen – three more flights left to be negotiated.

VII. a sense of stairs and conversation.

VIII. the insinuation of my blush, provoked by a nervous inner amusement.

IX. fragmentary speech, a look, a lull, then one valiant movement, one red touch

X. that odd thrill of both reading and of being read.