The proof of being able to cook
It’s happening again.
I can feel fat
settling around
my hips, adipose
in my bones
my scars stretching.
I don’t want it to set up home.
It’s as welcome
as a part-live frog
cat-left on a door mat
that thrashes and gulps
its skin unable
to breathe
its ripped body spilling
guts into the pile
a bilious experiment
in electricity.
I don’t need a night-stalker
to bring me this gift
this plenty. I must
seal my lips and burn.
Kate Noakes‘ fifth collection is Tattoo on Crow Street (Parthian, 2015). Her website (boomslangpoetry.blogspot.com) is archived by the National Library of Wales. She was elected to the Welsh Academy in 2011. She lives between Paris and London.