Needling Thoughts
People used to draw on each other when I was young.
It was the ultimate non-permanent branding until we
took to paying for our needlepoints. Scrawling on skin
used to be the height of human intimacy and contact.
Last night I dreamt that I was working then meeting
with friends, just noticing that I had spilt red wine down
the front of my shirt and that above that heart-stain
you had etched something – a word on my collarbone
that I won’t recall until tonight, when I close my eyes,
and then just before I can pluck it away it will be gone.
I just know it.
Kelly Creighton is a Belfast born poet and fiction writer with work in Wordlegs, The Ranfurly Review, A New Ulster, Electric Windmill Press, Inkspill Magazine, Poetry24 and numerous other publications. She has a novel and a poetry chapbook and this is her website. Twitter: @KellyCreighton