I came out to fanfare and
distaste. As they gripped
my hands and said I was
brave, I watched you roll
the word inside your mouth:
testing it with your tongue
like the pit of a sour plum
you didn’t want to swallow.
This poem was first published in Bi-Focus issue #2, which you can buy here.
I clench my muscles.
With squelch and grunt
it clangs,
circling into the bowl.
Crouching on cool bathroom
tiles, I dip my arm into dull
yellow water, hold it in my hand
for a moment, remember
your fingers slipping and curling
into me. I towel off the ring
and place it in an envelope,
which I leave in your letterbox.
An hour later your texts: HE KNOWS
HE FUCKING KNOWS
and I imagine your fingers
sliding against the tears
that splatter your phone screen.
Going to Sticky Institute’s Festival of the Photocopier this weekend in Melbourne? Then check out the Woolf Pack table! Issue 8 will be launched (which I have a little poem in!), and there will also be copies of ALL my zines for sale. ❤
Sadly I’m stuck in sweaty Brissie and can’t be at #FOTP2017 myself but I hope it’s a zinetastic experience 😘
Rae White 