Written for the prompt P is for Pot, plant or prism, which was in honour of our late friend Sue in Beeston Regis, a valued member of Writing Club. Sue left some wishes for ways to remember her: one was to buy a nice autumnal pot plant for the windowsill, and another was to enjoy the colours produced by a prism refracting light.
Seize The Clay
Mrs Sybil Cottery
And her husband, Ray,
Had a ceramics business
Making things from clay.
They’d bought a lottery ticket
And with the cash they’d won
Decided to make pottery,
Quirky, weird and fun.
They fired up their wheels and kilns
As quickly as they could;
Ambition, though, outweighed their skill
They just weren’t very good.
Their pottery was wobbly
It wouldn’t stand up straight;
It didn’t matter if it was
A sauce boat, vase or plate.
Ray Cottery’s creations
Gave purists cause to quibble:
His lips were always lumpy,
His spouts were all a-dribble.
Sybil Cottery simply couldn’t
Get her bottoms flat:
One side was always higher than
The other – let’s say that.
Her jugs were all lopsided;
Ray’s bowls rocked side to side;
Their mugs were most misshapen –
But still, a source of pride
For this firm that they set up after
Win on National Lottery
Now sells their wobbly wares world-wide
As Cottery’s Tottery Pottery.
© Carol Carman 2026
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