<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Truth<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n The defendant\u2019s elderly mother tells you You listen to the graphic descriptions like a punch in the stomach. His mother\u2019s face twists as if she is sucking straining to hear the barrister and the custodial guidelines. summing up, thinking about how you will skirt over the facts his mother probably hears more than she lets on that much easier to swallow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rachel Burns<\/strong> has poetry published in Crannog, Poetry Salzburg Review, Algebra of Owl<\/em>s and is anthologized in Poems for Grenfell Tower, Poems for the NHS <\/em>and #MeToo<\/em>. She has a poetry pamphlet forthcoming with Vane Women Press.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now that you\u2019ve left me<\/strong><\/p>\n for the desert <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nshe can’t hear very well.<\/p>\n
\nof the child images her son viewed on his computer<\/p>\n
\nYou have children, you are a mother.<\/p>\n
\non a lemon. She clutches her handbag<\/p>\n
\nas he discusses each count<\/p>\n
\nYou listen to the judge’s<\/p>\n
\nhow you will avoid the truth<\/p>\n
\nif she asks. For you know<\/p>\n
\nselective hearing makes the truth<\/p>\n
\nand a red rock\u2028i thought i’d be
\nafraid\u2028listening for cars
\non gravel\u2028a door slamming
\nshut\u2028and I do watch out
\nfor shadows
\non white tiles\u2028shivers of light
\non the walls\u2028mistake the head
\nof papyrus tossed
\nin the wind\u2028for the head
\nof a bad man\u2028but I’m listening more
\nto myself\u2028sounding the rhythm
\nof each day\u2028and what it gives
\nin solitude
\nin stillness\u2028i’m not reaching
\ninto the past\u2028for some old love \u2028but thinking of
\nsweet potato curry\u2028seeds I have to plant\u2028more than anything
\na solitary chair
\nin my eyrie
\nmy eye
\nto a galaxy in flux
\nthe way it reinvents itself \u2028the view I mean
\nand i’m surprised\u2028to find i have no fear
\nand few regrets\u2028except one
\nthe fear of
\nyour return<\/p>\n