Take-Away by Laura Martens

i think i had a panic attack

in the Pret hot food section

this morning, just after nine

the numbers were dripping

from the neat paper signs

sandwiches smiled

triangle smiles

a soup pot was bleeding

a red lake grew around its base

a man in an apron

stepped between me and the shelf

and started re-shuffling food

with slim magician’s hands

i stepped back out into the sun

and ate my fingers instead

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Laura Martens is based in London, UK, where she writes things and sells books. She loves skyscrapers, busy train stations and cafés with window seats. Her debut novel was published in

Germany in 2011.