<\/p>\n
Velvet Shells<\/strong><\/p>\n After an installation by Suze MacMurray.<\/em><\/p>\n They\u2019ve passed the test – from those still alive on a white plate. wine-soaked flesh, on the side, a stack of leftovers, all the way home hours of scrubbing with such care into emptiness, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Victoria Gatehouse<\/strong> lives in West Yorkshire. Her poems have appeared in magazines and anthologies including Mslexia, Magma<\/em>, The Rialto, The North, Poetry News, The Interpreter\u2019s House, Prole, Ink Sweat and Tears <\/em>and Her Wings of Glass<\/em>. Competition placements include Ilkley, Mslexia, Poetry News Members\u2019 Competition, Prole Laureate and The Interpreter\u2019s House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Velvet Shells After an installation by Suze MacMurray. They\u2019ve passed the test – that tap from Chef\u2019s blade, a glimmer of muscle from those still alive before the pile-up, blue and black, on a white plate. She imagines lovers scooping out wine-soaked flesh, that slow contraction of spirits in the throat; on the side, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[136,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2017-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12694"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13878,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12694\/revisions\/13878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nthat tap from Chef\u2019s blade,
\na glimmer of muscle<\/p>\n
\nbefore the pile-up,
\nblue and black,<\/p>\n
\nShe imagines lovers
\nscooping out<\/p>\n
\nthat slow contraction
\nof spirits in the throat;<\/p>\n
\nof coffins, unhinged.
\nShe\u2019s a collector<\/p>\n
\na scavenger
\nof restaurant bins –<\/p>\n
\nthat rattle in her hands
\nand afterwards<\/p>\n
\nthe shine back in,
\nbefore laying them out<\/p>\n
\non the kitchen table,
\nfolding crimson velvet<\/p>\n
\noffering up a prayer
\nfor each little death.<\/p>\n