Anna C Croft

You were my firework
A beautiful, magical display
Of bright colours, flying high
Into the inky blackness of night
...

It was just a dinner date
That ended in a horrible rape.

No-one heard her kick or scream
...

Hasn't it come round quickly,
Our celebrated once a year lunch.
We sit together in a crowded canteen
And ignore everyone - the whole damn bunch.
...

She thinks about death a lot
But knows it's unhealthy, but so what.

She thinks drowning would be for the best
...

I perceive you in the silence in forests
I hear your footfall on threadworn stairs.

I see your reflection in the store windows
...

Why do you assume the latency of my anger
Is inflamed by your interaction or lack of it?

Why do you not see that my bleeding heart
...

The jigsaw of my life lay before me
Piece upon sorry piece
Interlocking into a pattern of pain
Heralding years of waste.
...

The night lay before me like a vast ocean
Black, unfathomable and empty.
No moon to cast a shadow
Or to guide me through the inkiness to light.
...