painting for lemonade

By SJ Howarth

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When life gives you lemonade, there is no way to turn it back into lemons; yet this pitcher of poetry retains its acidity and leaves an occasional pip on your tongue, while reminding that each of us is a momentary citrus-tanged effervescence, caught somewhere between sharpness and flatness, in the greater froth of life.

Though we are taken to familiar poetic haunts – the coast, the countryside, Paris – we are also drawn to more mundane locations – McDonalds, Tescos, his mum’s attic – and shown the bleakness of everyday life at one remove – from the top deck of a bus, via a commuter train window, through a living room wall…

… and yet, in those same places, we find small, brief moments that cumulatively (spoiler alert) make us realise that life IS beautiful, after all.

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