My roses
do not grow
like the ones
in the catalogue.
See how this one
cringes against the fence,
like an abandoned woman,
bitter at having
once loved.
But it was always
like this
and I should have known
that the voluptuary
in me would
always remain partly
theoretical.
Annie Freud was named by the Poetry Book Society as a Next Generation Poet in 2014. ‘My Roses’ is published in The Remains, Annie’s latest collection, which she has illustrated herself. The image at the top of this post, called The View from Lankham Bottom, is one example.