New

You seem just right

like the old ted

I ran to pick out

from the pile of toys

in the school hall

when at long-last

my name was called:

a second-hand prize

I wanted to believe

had been made

especially for me,

so much so

we silently agreed

he would

hug no other child

and I would never

replace him.

 

 

Kathleen Kenny works as a creative writing tutor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Sunderland University. She has four published collections of poetry, the latest being Firesprung (Red Squirrel Press, 2008).