<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Shape of the Gap<\/strong><\/p>\n I give you the gap in my body You might keep it in a silver box The surgeon who gave me the gap so I let him take my womb from my body I held on to the gap but the gap has grown bigger I give you my gap.<\/p>\n You might wrap it in a man-sized tissue The Shape of the Gap I give you the gap in my body shaped like a conference pear. You might keep it in a silver box or else in your anorak pocket wrapped in a man-sized tissue. The surgeon who gave me the gap said I was looking down both barrels of a […]<\/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":[137,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-poetry-picks","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16654","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=16654"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17284,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16654\/revisions\/17284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nshaped like a conference pear.<\/p>\n
\nor else
\nin your anorak pocket
\nwrapped in a man-sized tissue.<\/p>\n
\nsaid I was looking down both barrels
\nof a doubled barrelled shotgun
\nassumed it was a metaphor
\nfor bleeding to death
\na hind caught in the crosshairs
\nof a huntsman\u2019s rifle<\/p>\n
\nzipping my face into a smile
\nas he zipped up my abdomen
\ntooth by tooth.<\/p>\n
\nhugging myself from within<\/p>\n
\nthe weight\u00a0 of its absence
\nfilled with the keening
\nof unborn children.<\/p>\n
\nor else
\nplant it in the garden
\nbeside the daffodils.
\n
\nJean Taylor<\/strong> belongs to Words on Canvas \u2013 a group of writers who work in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland. Her poetry has been published in a range of publications including Orbis, Northwords Now, Freak Circus<\/em> and Envoi<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"