You, after I read

Michèle Roberts Magnificat

Anne Carson

I called and you came
and stayed while
I shook and shattered
back to the gruesome
with witch and wicked
I told you every bit
and you listened and held
as good as any mother
down on your knees
and meant what you said
me learning trust 
like a baby who’d been 
                        dropped 
 
you held and rocked
and agreed it was too 
much too far to travel
you read every word
I brought up like bile
and only flinched once
when I gnawed at the meat 
of my own stump
still caught in the trap

---

Anne M Carson is a poet, essayist and visual artist. Her latest publications are Massaging Himmler: A Poetic Biography of Dr Felix Kersten (2019) and Two Green Parrots (2019). She has initiated poetry-led social justice projects, and is a RMIT PhD candidate in Creative Writing. www.annemcarson.com

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