Fractured light / and small breaths / rent this air / that smells of Spring / little ruptures / without recognition
Rent / I wish / we should / do more than pause / a strike / a breakage /
I feel a compulsion / keep bodies away / gaze on the wall
Impulses pass / half discovered
Three weeks ago I was carried / into this porous place / he jigsawed me into his spaces /
Edges remain discernible / still / it’s like a diminished Mondrian
In fact / inner edges are porous / these days / only the frame / persists
I can’t help / have been thinking / about the political work good humour is put to / I’m bad humoured / a lot
I want everyone angry / we should / be moved / care
Demand / in lieu of normality / care / I read again and again it’s hard hit
I’ve been wanting to read Bourdieu but the news overwhelms / it’s hard hit / the sector / but care itself
As feelings / as interpersonal processes / must surely be responsibility / with compassion
Surely it’s collectivism / and it’s been being hit for too long / clobbered and cracked
I’m sure safekeeping / can’t be continuity
Some ruptures are needed now / we should / demand / in lieu / nurture
I’m wanting to read Bourdieu but the news overwhelms / we just want / to stay alive / for you to stay / alive / protection but tenderness too / I want / only / the world as it has been to die
But this shelter / is a flat with a balcony / and we have planted tomatoes
We tend to them but they have a natural knack for growth / and I can taste them as they will be
Freya Marshall Payne is a writer and freelance journalist. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of online publications and she has written journalistically for titles including The Guardian, Vice and Prospect. She is currently undertaking a Master's in History at the University of Oxford and has been offered a collaborative doctoral studentship with the OCLW and Education Department. She tweets @fmarshallpayne.
