<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Baptism Stepping past the broken reeds I will not be reborn<\/p>\n Rude warmth of freshwater I will never be reborn<\/p>\n He towers out of waters as icy currents part my legs I will never be washed clean<\/p>\n Ruddy from a day of soul-saving When my man takes me in arms My hand trails over lake-skin \u2013 The dull fire of auburn trees Before this day is up, The stolen nose, I think I\u2019ll feel him above me forever No cleaner, Laura Elizabeth Woollett<\/strong> lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is currently writing her honours thesis on Petrarch and the Marquis de Sade. Her poetry has appeared in Autumn Sky<\/em>, Mascara<\/em>, Rabbit <\/em>and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Baptism I do not want to be born anew I do not want to be washed clean Stepping past the broken reeds my toes are curled my path is silt I will not be reborn Rude warmth of freshwater jellyfishes my gown I swell with the shame of pissed-in swimming pools I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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-3694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694","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=3694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3695,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3694\/revisions\/3695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>
\nI do not want to be born anew
\nI do not want to be washed clean<\/p>\n
\nmy toes are curled
\nmy path is silt<\/p>\n
\njellyfishes my gown
\nI swell with the shame
\nof pissed-in swimming pools<\/p>\n
\nRugged, regal,
\nwith hands splayed, saying
\n\u2018Come, my daughter,\u2019<\/p>\n
\nand dirt-eels squirm at my ankles<\/p>\n
\nThe type of man who burns most easily
\nWith sunflowers for eyes:
\nflecks of gold
\non a sky of blue-hazel<\/p>\n
\nI want to cry out
\nThere is too much silence
\nIn the lapping of black waters,
\nblue-reflecting<\/p>\n
\na benediction
\nor farewell to this world of things<\/p>\n
\nThe swirl of white smoke in cold air
\nA host of white robes, newly blessed,
\nbeam and clasp their hands at me<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ll see his face
\nthe slow movement of priestly lips
\nand a man\u2019s tongue,
\npinkly curling over teeth<\/p>\n
\nthe blessing murmur,
\nand the violence of plunged head
\nMy lungs are filled with cold filth<\/p>\n
\nHis face, swimming in broken sunlight
\nand that watery panic
\nbefore the break of surface
\nthe clinging of wet gown to breast<\/p>\n
\njust panting for my life.
\n <\/p>\n