The Things We Carry
We carry the scars of Section 28
that were stitched into our skin
during lunchtimes dodging fists
and after-school ambushes behind the bike sheds,
where onlookers’ cheers drowned out the blows.
We carry the silence of Clause 16
pressed into our bodies like bruises
earned in drills we dared not fail,
where boots snapped in time but hearts beat out of step
defending a country that does not stand up for us.
We carry the shame of Paragraph 352D
folded into suitcases at foreign borders,
where love is questioned like a crime,
and disbelief stamped heavier than visas.
They tell us to run for our lives —
but only if we can do it quietly.
William Collins is a Creative Writing graduate currently teaching English at an international school in the north of England.