Girl in the Hall
Let’s call her Hetty,
this girl who isn’t me,
this thin white one,
this bare-knuckled beauty
who lives in the wallpaper,
thin as wallpaper,
this bruise-eyed darling,
this one I’m half in love with,
Who lives in the wall,
tap-tapping her urgent warnings,
the ones I adhere to
in this narrow dark corridor,
where she’s stock still,
stuck still,
open mouthed,
shrunk into the skirting board,
fingering a crack,
this white-thighed girl,
darting now,
a shadow
naked down the hall,
searching for a shower –
his thin line of sweat,
early evening stubble –
when she shouldn’t
even be here.
* Charlotte Gann's The Long Woman was published recently by Pighog Press. She's had work in The Rialto, The North and Magma, among others.
