Content Warning: violence, death, blood
Louise Machen – Ruination
Slice me out of the darkness
to dress me in desire.
Tether yourself at the nape of my neck
abiding by your promises
to expel the air from reality
and bind me into submission.
With your mellifluous malediction,
fold me into your existence,
scoring me with creases
that can never be unmade.
Draw me firmly into your domain,
have me salivate to find my place
against your skin – now, then again:
ruin is, for both of us,
a gift of transformation.
Be my very unmaking.
I will burn every bridge
from my knees:
write me alive with the ashes.
Louise Machen is a Mancunian poet and a graduate of The Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester. Her poetry likes to explore the complicated relationships between people and the world. She has most recently appeared in The Poetry Bus, Dreich and Sound and Vision – an Anthology from Black Bough Poetry. You can find her eating Belgian waffles on Friday nights or, alternatively, on Twitter @LouLouMach.
Artwork: Take Me by Helen Gwyn Jones
Helen Gwyn Jones (she/her) started recording her world at the age of 8 when she bought a Brownie camera from her sister, something which has become a lifelong passion. A collector of the past (hers and other people’s) she likes nothing better than muted images of imperfection. May be found poring over Welsh grammar books when not photographing drains or going into raptures over rust. Recent publications include Hungry Ghost Project, Free Flash Fiction, Acropolis Journal, Paddler Press, Blink-Ink, Hecate, Pareidolia, Moss Puppy, The Levatio, Camas, Subliminal, Terse Instagram / Twitter: @helengwynjones Facebook: Helen Gwyn Jones Photographic Artist