Crack an egg in half and see 
how a person always 
has a story about finding 
a chick inside the shell,
and then you’d dream of 
this person doing the saddest thing,
making their own birthday cake.
They would pick two flavours
that reminded them of someone,
strawberry and rhubarb, forgetting
that one will overpower
the other. Sadder still,
to put some in your mouth
and find it has gone sour.
Imagine everyone decided 
to wear the blue of a J-Cloth
on the same day, but you wore pink.
I leave flour on my clothes so
it looks like I’ve been touched.

Jenna Clake's debut collection, Fortune Cookie, was awarded the Melita Hume Prize and shortlisted for a Somerset Maugham Award. Her poetry has appeared in The Poetry Review, The Rialto, and Oxford Poetry. In 2018, she received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors.