<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The startle response<\/strong><\/p>\n In babies Usually people learn In some, this nervousness The whispers of counter staff, And now the slightest To turn emotional ground zero <\/p>\n Claire Sexton<\/strong> is a Welsh writer living in London. She has had poems published in Ink, Sweat and Tears, Peeking Cat Poetry, Hedgerow, The Stare’s Nest, <\/em>and Light: a Journal of Photography and Poetry.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The startle response In babies cat whiskers or a change of light or firework thudding far off, can cause consternation. Usually people learn to deflect such attacks, but not always. In some, this nervousness continues to rankle and the tickle of cat whiskers gives way to the tickle of idle and malicious […]<\/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":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14436","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=14436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14437,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14436\/revisions\/14437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ncat whiskers
\nor a change of light
\nor firework thudding
\nfar off,
\ncan cause consternation.<\/p>\n
\nto deflect such
\nattacks,
\nbut not always.<\/p>\n
\ncontinues to rankle
\nand the tickle of cat whiskers
\ngives way to the tickle of
\nidle and malicious
\nconversations, reluctantly
\noverheard
\nin surgery waiting rooms,
\nand corridors
\nin office blocks,
\nnear water coolers
\nand in shop doorways
\nor post office queues.<\/p>\n
\nshelf stackers,
\nlibrary patrons
\nand whistling milkmen
\ncan also cause incursions.<\/p>\n
\ntwist or curve of my body
\nat nighttime, stirs my brain,
\nand only silence and lack of
\nmovement provide the necessary
\nalloy to make the outside world
\nless sword-like, and more
\nfluid.<\/p>\n
\ninto something beautiful.
\nA slowly shifting black hole.<\/p>\n