Alter Ego
A cardboard coffin
Small as a shoebox
And filled with stones
And tiny bones
I take it to the
Wood
No good
Shall come of this
This morning
I painted my face away
And cut off my hair
I left my long red locks
For the birds
To line their nests
Where go you?
Asks the rook
That grants me
His narrative gaze
Little girl
In your
Cloak of cobwebs
Where do you go?
Lend me your
Cape
And I will
Give you wings
The colour of silence
Carry your coffin
Of bones and rocks
On the spread of your span
Use your talons
To scratch earth
And dig
Cover
The tilled
Grave
With anemone
And wild garlic
Fly home to me
And I will return you
To a form so
Witching
That nothing
But the voice in your
Throat
Will ever
Break bones again
Hannah Welfare has been published in First Time, Brittle Star, The Linnet’s Wings, Fat Damsel, Miracle Magazine, Obsessed With Pipework and other magazines. She has had two collections of poetry (“Garden Of Ghosts” and “Insect Nights”) published by KT Publications.