october 2015
The Body Is - Shelby Managh
The body is
a lifetime
of spinning cogs
ticking arrows
moves at half speed
while her arm reaches for me
but I am too slow.
The body is
a sheet of thin ice
bracing for impact
hitting the ground before
I can get a solid grip.
The body is
held together with super glue
a bag of skin
with the weight of
shadows and keys
The body is
late nights and
half cured cancer
the phone that rings
at 4 am
I bury into
my sheets
and wait for the moment
I can give my pain a 10
and let my body lie.
Goodbye - Shelby Managh
As a child I wore goodbyes
to hold me in slow motion
so that tears would out run me.
I couldn’t understand
the function of seven little letters.
But without them I couldn’t breathe.
With goodbye came the loneliness
a monster of hands and gestures.
Goodbye doesn’t mean see you later.
It doesn’t have a happy ending.
Goodbye is stunting the sunlight as it stalks clouds,
And pulling the shades on your dress
Riddled with mud fights and daisy chains.
It is the dark horse that charges
my dreams, the hooded rider
that carves out the last glance
Contributor's Note
A drone who thought it'd be fun to do a BA/LLB. At least the creative writing is fun and rather therapeutic. I'd love to be a spoken word poet if I had the confidence and a mock Bowery Poetry Club to do it at.