by Jennie Byrne
i
am
in
pieces
a tornado, blown open, a belt wrapped
like a noose, tight around old scars
we marry our wounds so they never leave
but it knits together, red fibers birth a buried
bullet, once fired by teeth, now dressed in me
sleep is my escape, and i wake in a nightmare
swallowed a pothole, a touch feels coarse
except for her, she was my violet, my incubator
we do not remember days, we remember moments
you say this in a language i’ll never know
sink into the blue hole, charged with grandeur
multiply like flies, insoluble once more
i could hear my pulse breakthrough water
heartbeat strangled by tides, i am a doll
unstitched, i am milk
uncurdled
but
i was here
Jennie Byrne
Hey there! My name’s Jennie, by day I’m the Head of Content for a tech startup company, by night I’m a reader and writer based in the north west of England. I have a first-class MA degree in Creative Writing from Edge Hill University. My work has appeared in Tears in the Fence, Ink, Sweat & Tears, datableedzine and Versopolis Review among others. I was shortlisted for the MA Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2018 and was longlisted for the erbacce prize for poetry 2018 and the Saveas International Poetry Competition 2022. I previously worked for Edge Hill University Press helping to edit and promote an anthology of poetry and poetics entitled Atlantic Drift. Find me on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram!
