Handbuilt terracotta dish decorated with white slip and sgraffito, illustrated with the poem Foxes, which I wrote for my children in 2015.

Once, in a wood

I was fortunate to see

Two foxes having supper -

both dogs.

Their table was laid with crisp linen,

bright silver

and white china.

They drank soup

(I think it was vichyssoise)

looking at each other.

It was quiet there

except for the chink chink

of the spoons against the bowls.

They’re in love, I thought

And with their copper pelt and whiskers

made quite the snappy couple.

I left them noiselessly, beneath the canopy.

A brush with romance.