female
i am hung on the washing line
not to dry
iiiiiiibut to fumigate
beneath my feet
copper rage
my drug of choice
migrates to my iiiiilips
lifted by
women
standing on the shoulders of women
a scaffold of fingernails and
bruised cartilage
caffeine
she draws the line
i walk along it
tracing the edge with my lip
a silk entanglement connects us
spun from borrowed authenticity
pinched between her teeth – a moth wing
moving towards empty space
i lose bite
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiibut she catches me
grit coats her tongue
i taste chalk
Briony Hughes is an English Literature finalist, studying at Royal Holloway University of London. She is the secretary of Royal Holloway’s English Literature Society, which runs monthly readings, open mics, and a festival of literature at the end of the academic year. Briony is interested in any form of writing which pushes structural and linguistic boundaries, and is hoping to study a MA in Poetic Practice this upcoming year.