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Katie Griffiths

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Multiple Personality Disorder

Henry’s mind is stuffed but unravelling,
dropping Latin, shedding Vivaldi.
The right kind of school lacquered the boy
who once chewed his nails on the forecourt.
Mummy was smartly dressed and out of bounds.

Frances studies occult until night bleaches.
She works at opening her third eye,
finds it a hole ready for penetration.
Something is having sex with her head.
Painful, but great for implanting ideas.

Chas radiates a comfy well-being
that comes from eighteen months in the nick.
Incautious anecdotes are what makes him buzz,
better than pinstriping it to Charing Cross.
It's the prodigal who gets all the women.

And I, watchman on the ramparts,
hear whisperings through leaded windows,
ruche and backstitch tiny histories
trusting that fantasy will be flecked
with glints of steel by morning.

 

Page(s) 79

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