Redemption

Hope Loveday

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

Pull me by a leash

I’ll let my stomach ache

Suck it out of me

intravenously

Go to bed angry, don’t speak to me

 

I won’t blink, I’ll just look

You give me knives and I’ll take

I’ll cut onions until they’re gone

Knuckle by knuckle then, don’t stop

Watch me quietly. It doesn’t hurt me

 

I’ll step on that nail you put on the ground

Let me bleed out

Tell me to think about death

or half-miracles, a bird with broken wings

Hand to my ear, I’ll listen with a tear

 

I’ll count every raindrop

then I’ll draw no breath

Tell me what you need

but don’t pull the hair covering my face

as I cry at your feet, bruises on my knees

 

I’ll be a splint

holding together what I’ve broken

The cracks on your face

I’ll stick together with paste

made of my spit and sweat and skin

 

Call me anything you’d like

but if it’s ‘good’, you’ll find my hands at your throat

You’ll hear me beg for it not to be

until you’re blue, I’m through

What have I done?

 

 

EMPTY NEST

Impenitent killer

Pupils showing the first star

Reflecting, deathly, the hunt

Crossing the yard; left eye scarred

 

Bandit creature, a fiend

Angel thing, a friend

The silken fur grazes the earth

Hatched eggs wait, sticks break

 

The killer is made of cotton wool

Soaked in love and praise

Yet under the moon things change

Tail of a snake, claws wanting to take

 

It’s dinner time and the bowl is full

Soon purring on its mother’s chest

After she cleans up the mess

Redeemed from a bloody heist, it’s too enticed

 

Like the last blooming tree

The nest is alone, unarmed, bare

With two flicks of the rump the predator is there

It’s inexorable, yet the killer’s adorable

 

Feathery feline, the corpse corrupt

Hung modestly from the mouth

Like a kitten toy

A different mother calls, it’s baby bawls

 

The home is warm and welcomes

The remains placed in its favourite room

White neck spotted like blurry vision

Now resting by the fire; a deviant’s desire

Author: Hope is an aspiring writer who loves to explore what it means to be human and experiment with new formats and genres. She’s currently working on a collection of short stories about growing up as a female in a man’s world.

Artist: Steph Blinco is a third year Bachelor of Fine Arts student. A local Brisbane emerging artist, her practice makes statements about everyday life through collaged imagery. Intertwining psychedelic patterns to create collisions of colour and era, Steph draws influences from autobiographical contexts, ranging from her childhood to her experiences now as a young adult. You can find her on Instagram @stephblincoart.