‘The Cherry Jumper’ by Lisa de Jong
Mam loved having me dressed
in the cherry jumper –
white and woolly, itchy with pairs
of stuffed red and green cherries
hanging from the front, the back
and the upper arm sleeves.
I’d spin around and watch those cherries
stand on end, pointing east and west –
ruby red clots.
In the playground on the 11 o’clock
break he darted past me;
the blond boy
from the class next door,
pulled a cherry from each of my arms.
I found them later, on the crumbled tarmac
by the white hopscotch.
Clenched them in my hand,
embarrassed I’d let it happen,
hid them in a box.
From issue #6: spring/summer 2018
About the Author
Lisa de Jong is an Irish writer born in the Netherlands and raised in Wicklow. Her work has appeared in The Irish Literary Review and The Yellow Book, and in 2016 she won the Anam Cara Leanne O’Sullivan poetry award. She has read her poetry at the Monday Echo and Lingo Festival in Dublin.
