{"id":14513,"date":"2017-09-09T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-09T08:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=14513"},"modified":"2020-05-29T09:43:28","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T09:43:28","slug":"kathleen-strafford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/kathleen-strafford\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathleen Strafford"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s done is done<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Thane of Fife, had a wife, where is she now?<\/em><\/p>\n

I wonder what it\u2019s like to be dead<\/p>\n

wonder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 if he touches my flesh<\/p>\n

will it feel the same?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I try to remember\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 but cannot<\/p>\n

remember\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 his hot ties of affection<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

thought it would be easy<\/p>\n

to unsex myself<\/p>\n

screw my courage<\/p>\n

into the vacuous<\/p>\n

business of men<\/p>\n

Oh this murky business<\/p>\n

that creeps day by day<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

filling my breasts with vinegar<\/p>\n

emptying my womb<\/p>\n

of its junk<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At first\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it creeps under your arms<\/p>\n

stings\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 like pins and needles<\/p>\n

Next\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 you cannot bend to pick<\/p>\n

poppies\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sprouting from your hips<\/p>\n

as they reach to flatten each breast<\/p>\n

inverting<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

each nipple into submission<\/p>\n

Last thing you hear is your<\/p>\n

frightened womb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 escaping<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

as your features<\/p>\n

wrinkle\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 loose skin sags<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

leaving your hands free<\/p>\n

for the black night<\/p>\n

and bloody water<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kathleen Strafford<\/strong> is a student at Trinity University in Leeds studying for her MA\u00a0in creative writing.\u00a0 She hopes her first collection of poetry will be published this coming year after graduation, called Her Own Language<\/em>.\u00a0 She has been published in magazines & online:\u00a0 Interpreter’s House; Butcher’s Dog; Algebra of Owls; Fat Damsel<\/em>; Cinnamon Press Reaching Ou<\/em>t anthology; Trinity’s Journeys<\/em>; Trinity’s 50th Anniversary Anthology, and received honourable mention at the 2016\u00a0Ilkley Poetry Slam.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What\u2019s done is done \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Thane of Fife, had a wife, where is she now? I wonder what it\u2019s like to be dead wonder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 if he touches my flesh will it feel the same?   I try to remember\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 but cannot remember\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 his hot ties of affection   thought it would be […]<\/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-14513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14513","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=14513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14514,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14513\/revisions\/14514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}