Hereditary
Dawn Rhodes-Shaw
free falling backwards to a jolt
on the sofa stars spinning my ride
blood drips nostril to upper lip
courtesy of his empty beer cans
he wraps his head in tattooed fingers
reeling with regret
I dial a cab ride - love nest to hospital bed –
and exit with a tea towel clutched to my face
later recovering on my best friend’s sofa
I focus on reknitting bone with invisible thread
he calls round we talk and with stinging eyes
we peel memories till his father's tall shadow fades
resighting his world with unclenched fists
Dawn is a writer from Leeds, now based in Hastings. Her poems appear online in Neologism Poetry Journal, and Words and Whispers Journal, and will be published in the Ey Up Anthology of Northern Writers 3 later in the year. She is currently collecting poems for her first pamphlet. As a screenwriter she is co-writing a six-part comedy series.