Jessica Walker

by | Aug 5, 2018 | Prose & Poetry

 

 

 

 Hive To The Operators Again

I punched your number
into my phone so hard
I think that you heard the
thuds and dial tones.
As when you answered
after one sharp ring
you didn’t sound surprised
that I was calling.

I only whistled lullabies
and our song that we used
to slow dance to in our
compact box kitchen.

I still have the bruises from where my hip hit the stove time and time again.

You told me that I was still out of tune
and inevitably out of luck.

The rain knocked down my mailbox again
and you came round the next day to fix it.
I didn’t tell you that it was me who axed it.

I’ve begun to feel out of control: bees swarm in hives
around my busy head.
Am I the Queen Bee now? The largest one with four million maids and a joker.

Sometimes, when I think no one is watching I eat honey from a jar with a silver spoon.
And if I dance for strangers in underground clubs,
they hum and buzz like you never would.

 

 

 

Jessica Walker is a poet living and working in York. She is a graduate of York St John University where she received a degree in Linguistics and Creative Writing. She is a recipient of the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award and of the Cumbria Young Writers Award. Her poetry has been published by The Poetry Society, Tower Poetry in their anthology Something To Be Said and by Cadaverine Magazine. Her work has also appeared in various publications by York St John, most notably as a feature poem in their Student Showcase and the Beyond The Walls Anthology.