You are exactly 3 hours 12 minutes
away on a traffic free day
according to the AA Route Planner.

It took 5 attempts to draw blood
from your vein on Thursday.
I was not there.

I think of the bruise in the crook of your arm
& shudder as I used to
when I was a proper mother.

Change alters our growth rings,
like seasons: the pithy
weather of separations scarring us.

My phone informs me
Rain Expected Dewsbury 7am.
I’ve stopped surveilling your WhatsApp,

realising being online
is no grand indication of your safety –
still, it was last seen Friday 8.28pm.

*

From Magma 83

 

 

 

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