Poem in Cordite

A poem published in Cordite.

 "Sometimes I wonder if..."

Sometimes I Wonder if




our whole world is a third world

a step-sister left behind in the galaxy’s

cinderella story




ugly cousin earth spinning on her heel

raging at the cosmos’ beauty




defective pieces of swept-up stardust

from factories that abuse labouring angels

offal from a flourishing inter-galactic trade, we

who want nothing more than to be saved

and nothing saved but us

our unwatched backs, our shaken wombs

like all rejects, we spill mother’s secrets

to anyone who listens

anyone holding out his arms

anyone who promises toffee and lies

about how nice we look




mesmerized by metal and muscle

we ask strangers to swing an axe

into the sun’s gut





we watch




at night, we whisper to each other – 

we were not made weak and small for nothing

we can slide into mother’s cracked skin and hide

inside her burn-red belly until it’s over

we are fated to drink the sap in her marrow

we can grow a tangle of nerves and veins until





each one is inside each one

and no one can live without killing

and no one can kill without dying

thus, we can survive.




flowers in armpits, we fantasize

about another galaxy – 

no factories, no fence-sitting angels

with halos of barbed wire

no greater muscle than our own




we pour yellow and black and red earth

on our eyes until the dream is solid

as earth’s bones




we cry for this place

tucked behind the knees of the galaxy

gurgling in the crook of the sun’s elbow

a place scorched clean. 




in her sleep

our planet grinds her teeth.




[This is an edited version of the poem published in Cordite magazine]