Paper Dolls

She did well,
my secret twin – kept us alive,
deflected blows,

absorbed each wound
into our body, quiet as a tree.
I didn’t notice her leave

until the wind whistled in
and a bird
flew from my mouth.

Later
I unfolded myself
like a chain of paper dolls

and found the ledger snipped,
two featureless hands
reaching for air.

 

 

Lucy Dixcart is a Kent-based writer. Her poems have appeared in a number of anthologies and magazines, and she was a finalist in the 2021 Brotherton Poetry Prize.