shot glass
- William Shakespeare


Sally Long has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East London and is studying for a PhD at Exeter University. She has had poems published in print and online magazines in the UK and US including Agenda, Haiku Journal, Ink, Sweat and Tears, London Grip, Poetry Salzburg Review, Shot Glass Journal and Snakeskin. Sally edits Allegro Poetry Magazine.

Sally Long

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The Button Hole

The rain left you housebound
with a four year old,
so you took blue cloth,
red cotton, needle and scissors,
cut the outline of a doll's dress,
joined the seams,
sewed a straight hem,
attached a button at the neck,
cut a slit.
I watched your stubby fingers
stich a perfect button hole.

Something, Father,
that years later
my slender fingers
fail to master.