I dive into a wave, swim,
haul myself out into Breton heat.
Hot sands fire my feet,
sting me with pleasure.
Wordless,
you extend your arm,
disembodied
behind your broadsheet.
You pass me a beer,
bread and cheese
and my book.
Your eyes stay
on your newspaper.
When I read,
you fret and flounder
awash with annoyance
at my willful absence,
paper cuts draw blood.
The White Hotel, hurts more
than most, Lisa fledges
from Freud’s Anna G.,
and I surrender,
hypnotized
the story shifts
and shivers in the sweltering day.
Stung by ice-needles,
a user,
I shudder and shake;
a vicarious voyeur
faced with death camp hell
written alive by Thomas [D.M].
His strong hand
shocks to the core,
I am shamed
the author’s bite-sized benedictions,
the small balms that end his tale
deliver no-one.
Finished, I close my book,
rise and run to the sea.
Pray today’s warm water
will splash against my skin
unfreeze me and draw me back
to the here and now.
If so,
I’ll hide in the agitated comfort
of your sunburnt arms.
If not,
my madness will distort
all my remainder days.
Author Bio:
Ceinwen lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. After a career as a probation officer, a mental health social worker and a practice educator she is concentrating on writing. She writes short stories and poetry. She has been published in web magazines and print anthologies. These include Fiction on the Web, Literally Stories, Alliterati, Stepaway, Poets Speak (whilst they still can), Three Drops from the Cauldron, Snakeskin, Obsessed with Pipework, The Linnet’s Wing, Blue Nib, Picaroon, Amaryllis, Algebra of Owls, Write to be Counted, The Lake, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Riggwelter, Poetry Shed, Southbank Poetry, Smeuse, Bandit Fiction, Atrium, Marauder, Prole, The Curlew and coming up in Mothers Always Write. She was Highly Commended in the Blue Nib Chapbook Competition In 2017 she graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Newcastle University and she is now developing practice as a creative writing facilitator with hard to reach groups. She believes everyone’s voice counts.
haul myself out into Breton heat.
Hot sands fire my feet,
sting me with pleasure.
Wordless,
you extend your arm,
disembodied
behind your broadsheet.
You pass me a beer,
bread and cheese
and my book.
Your eyes stay
on your newspaper.
When I read,
you fret and flounder
awash with annoyance
at my willful absence,
paper cuts draw blood.
The White Hotel, hurts more
than most, Lisa fledges
from Freud’s Anna G.,
and I surrender,
hypnotized
the story shifts
and shivers in the sweltering day.
Stung by ice-needles,
a user,
I shudder and shake;
a vicarious voyeur
faced with death camp hell
written alive by Thomas [D.M].
His strong hand
shocks to the core,
I am shamed
the author’s bite-sized benedictions,
the small balms that end his tale
deliver no-one.
Finished, I close my book,
rise and run to the sea.
Pray today’s warm water
will splash against my skin
unfreeze me and draw me back
to the here and now.
If so,
I’ll hide in the agitated comfort
of your sunburnt arms.
If not,
my madness will distort
all my remainder days.
Author Bio:
Ceinwen lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. After a career as a probation officer, a mental health social worker and a practice educator she is concentrating on writing. She writes short stories and poetry. She has been published in web magazines and print anthologies. These include Fiction on the Web, Literally Stories, Alliterati, Stepaway, Poets Speak (whilst they still can), Three Drops from the Cauldron, Snakeskin, Obsessed with Pipework, The Linnet’s Wing, Blue Nib, Picaroon, Amaryllis, Algebra of Owls, Write to be Counted, The Lake, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Riggwelter, Poetry Shed, Southbank Poetry, Smeuse, Bandit Fiction, Atrium, Marauder, Prole, The Curlew and coming up in Mothers Always Write. She was Highly Commended in the Blue Nib Chapbook Competition In 2017 she graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from Newcastle University and she is now developing practice as a creative writing facilitator with hard to reach groups. She believes everyone’s voice counts.
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