Naomi Madlock
If This Is What It Takes
Sunlight wincing through late September
fails the leaves from umber to amber, a sea
of sinking fleets.
There’s a hole in the back of my skull
where all the words seep out at night.
The sheets stare whitely for hours like a mother
waiting for a newborn’s crying to cease.
Last night I was a bald, spent hen
slung by the neck to the woodshed.
A sharp relief, a cork released, a Sunday celebration.
Come morning, there’s nothing left but the tang
of another smog-tarnished dawn. Nothing drawn
from the well but sweat and shadow.
I walk the city barefoot, barely there, shedding
paper torn in half and half again.
It’s still a dream. I’m searching for a book
to hold what’s left of me: a sea of folded fleets,
a nest of embers, a leaf letting go of its green.
Naomi Madlock
Naomi Madlock lives in Bristol, UK. Her work is featured in Kingfisher Magazine, The Shore, The Madrigal, and others. At the University of Exeter, she was awarded the Gamini Salgado prize for her dissertation collection She Writes in Golden Ink. Her work draws inspiration from nature to articulate themes of stagnation, resilience and surrender. You can find her on Twitter @naomimadlock