Mahoning, 1956
not hanging
over head like an anvil
on a rope
not scent or slow
wrinkly process or pulling
a sweater
out to a long crimped
thread not diminutive
via sex not intrusive
thought yellow
threshold of platform
or bridge not slack
bin bag not in film
or a packet
of pills not fly
on a flower
not memento mori
terrible accident
sleep nor peace
night creatures, 1965
After Lee Krasner
listen / i wanted to be a pain / ter / with a small studio / but now i know that kind of living / isn’t for me / instead i watch plastic bottles / roll across the tube floor / stand in front of paintings / size of my body / envious / been a domestic plaything / for men / on some sick metronome between limp & livid / had i submitted / or / had an ulcerous force / dictated my decisions / feel watched / if not by myself / then knots / on trees or worse / eyes / in mirrors / which flash / back & forth / as if being stared down / by the same disgruntled stranger / again & again / is my life something / i can survive
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Godelieve de Bree is a poet and critic based in London. Her creative and/or critical work has appeared in the LARB, Poetry London, Oxford Poetry and Tate. She is a member of the London Library Emerging Writers Programme 24/25
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