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a collection of single lines I have written in my bedside notebook, and never returned:

by Olivia Burgess


Poetry is my pill of youth, my vigour 

demanding to live long in the nethers of daylight 

slowly, slowly trifling 

a madman with no man, self set to sea on a sail 

the only connection with my childhood is now through metaphor

a daughter of despair. 


At night I sleep unsharpened

I dream of peace, and waters icy, skin, chilled, silent, mind

the house keeps swathed sleeping in night blindness


We stood there taking pictures of the moon, and I surrendered

your eyes working their kind water 

to snack on half bitten dead purple stars


is that a star or a question mark ? a plane heading south for winter? 

something i’d never thought a man would ever know to remember 


but now, there are only miles and miles of minutes 

now, only, the dawn


 

Olivia Burgess is a tired student reading English at King's College London. When she's not writing poetry that praises the wonderful intricacies of humanity or trying to understand the greater realisations of her existence she enjoys cooking up a storm, reading her tarot and staring at the night sky, for which she is very grateful. She hopes you take care of yourself today.

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