Awakened from a dream
where in a repetitive
fashion
I
tattoo
elaborate scenes on the meatiest part of my thighs
in reality my skin is altered by mere sunlight age and accident
I do not see the images fully formed each viewing they are
in lasered stages b l u r r e d into obscurity for the next round
the sense arises that this cycle of subjecting myself to pain
for an artistic vision is trying to tell me something
about my poetry about how I make the same mistakes again and again
like blueberry gin after midnight
and emotionally distant men
Anna Percy has been writing for the page, stage and publication since 2004 mostly in the North of England. In 2010 she co founded the feminist collective Stirred Poetry. She has three full length collections with Flapjack Press. This poem is from an upcoming pamphlet The Everlasting Now from Some Roast Poets.
Alison Jones is a teacher, and writer with work published in a variety of places, from Poetry Ireland Review, Proletarian Poetry and The Interpreter’s House, to The Green Parent Magazine and The Guardian. She has a particular interest in the role of nature in literature and is a champion of contemporary poetry in the secondary school classroom. Her pamphlet, ‘Heartwood’ was published by Indigo Dreams in 2018, with a second pamphlet. ‘Omega’ forthcoming.
Spangle McQueen is a happy grandma and hopeful poet living in Sheffield.
Lisa Reily is a former literacy consultant, dance director and teacher from Australia. She
Steve Komarnyckyj’s literary translations and poems have appeared in Index on Censorship, Modern Poetry in Translation and many other journals. He is the holder of two PEN awards and a highly regarded English language poet whose work has been described as articulating “what it means to be human” (Sean Street). He runs Kalyna Language Press with his partner Susie and three domestic cats.
Foxglove Journal 