She perks up her heads
and debates which exit
to use. A few consonants
run for my throat but the vowels
want to journey through
my heart, get polished
by the oxygen rich blood
flow into the crowded world.
Now the consonants talk
to each other and to my throat
which makes guttural noises
and feels lost without vowels.
But the ws come, wanting
who, where, what, when.
With soft puffs of air
and a whoosh they blow
the letters out of my mouth.
Like magnets the vowels
and consonants pull to
each other and rearrange
themselves by the relativity
of the morning light.
And there she is, ushering
me out of granite into form.
Kristy Snedden has been a trauma psychotherapist for forty-plus years. She began writing poetry in June 2020. Her work appears or is forthcoming in various journals and anthologies, including Snapdragon, The Examined Life Journal, Open Minds Quarterly, Pensive, and Anti-Heroin Chic. She is a 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee. In her free time, she can be found hiking in the Appalachian Mountains near her home or hanging out with her husband listening to their dogs tell tall tales. You can follow her on Instagram @kristy_snedden_poetry.
Gareth Writer-Davies is from Brecon and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize (2014 and 2017) and the Erbacce Prize (2014). He was commended in the Prole Laureate Competition (2015) and Prole Laureate for 2017. He was commended in the Welsh Poetry Competition (2015) and Highly Commended in 2017. His pamphlet “Bodies”, was published in 2015
Foxglove Journal 