Therapy Room
This is the room of picking lightly
at the scab on the deep wound
This is the room of fear, of silence;
of fear of silence
of the long clenching back of tears
(158 characters incl. spaces)
This is the room of picking lightly
at the scab on the deep wound
This is the room of fear, of silence;
of fear of silence
of the long clenching back of tears
(158 characters incl. spaces)
your electricity
prickles and hums
I ache to close the circuit
but I dare not
flip the switch
(93 characters incl. spaces)
Seven years
of divots and small fingerprints
this fresh paint
claims they never happened
(88 characters incl. spaces)
the fridge makes small sighs
testing the silence
the central heating rumbles and sings
you are not alone
(104 characters incl. spaces)
we form an orderly queue
to strew rose petals on your coffin
the bloke ahead of me
pats his gently onto the lid:
‘not far behind you, mate’
(139 characters incl. spaces)
you don’t tell me this is goodbye
but I hear it in the stutter, the buzz
of your zip closing
(93 characters incl. spaces)
Your mistress
tells her friends
about your enormous
bank account
I tell mine
about your tiny
heart
(98 characters incl. spaces)
bottle of red
half-empty
or
hangover
half-full ?
(48 characters incl. spaces)
What do you keep from me
cherry tree?
The wattle lets loose
its fizz-ball fireworks
and still your buds are tiny fists
with bloody knuckles
(139 characters incl. spaces)