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  • Writer's pictureKayleigh Willis

'Blue Borders' by Gabriella Garofalo



Why are you running so fast,

My April wind, you poor old sod-

You spooked or what?

But I’ve emptied my cupboards of stars and bliss

Ever since my family started shrieking at each other-

And you, yes you, believe you are

A time of life and flowers on the branches?

Well, it depends,

Missing leaves on the ground and stoned souls-

It's not a fairy tale, Father, my dissolving father,

Do not waste your time on marks and breadcrumbs,

And shattered hopes, just stop it, stop it now

Least you call them over,

To gather on the shores of the lake,

And you, my Prophet, do not straddle into the trees

A bastard dance partner strives to hide in the wilds,

So, bite your lips, soul, don’t say silence exists:

The androgynous, demise, loss, mix-ups,

Yes, they answer in silence,

Light and shadow, then they leave you alone,

As ever their hair is torn off, as ever they snap and frown,

Sheer poetry at full blast-

Do you want to get snared in the green?

Well, what about a clean-up of limbs and wounding skies,

Now, get your litter of bastard voices,

Desire fouled by Alzheimer,

A life binned in a bright jumble:

They’re coming over, the fiends from the foliage,

Trees ready to dissolve kiddos, young things,

Or an unbiased light that shrinks?

However, they got to a halt and gave you words,

Maybe the song that scatters the dead-

"At least they got it done" hisses the moon

Fed up with brushes, cleaners,

A set table and discarded tat:

The undergrowth coming home

To your anger, even your bites-

Soft girlish smiles, and long beards,

Yet they were men when the Son said

‘Grab the light and spread it everywhere”

As the pastry-maker does with a tasty cake-

The Father, on the other hand, wants us to be

A rock or the wind, a flower or many black stains