< Issue 7 >
Routine
by Charlotte De'Ath
anna akhmatova wrote during the siege
of stalingrade that:
it’s hard to tell the difference
between the living and the dead
i see it in the supermarket aisles
the empty lifeless eyes
the programmed stepford motions
the chain store dress code movements
the bad sex tattooed as disappointment
the basket full of low fat lies
the antidepressant bottles of wine
and i’m in the check out queue
waiting to pay for my tissues
bars of chocolate and all 458 pages
of a £3.50 novel complete with
iconography a some perfect little
backlit cover goddess
watching my anti ageing creams
and over the counter headache pills
motor along the conveyor belt into
the child-like hands
of a gum chewing girl labelled joanne
i can’t tell the difference
i’m not sure if i’m alive or dead
there still exists a heroic defiant
act of survival
even as the little girl inside me
slowly
withers grey and starving
i have to wonder
is just carrying on
really such an easy option
Routine
by Charlotte De'Ath
anna akhmatova wrote during the siege
of stalingrade that:
it’s hard to tell the difference
between the living and the dead
i see it in the supermarket aisles
the empty lifeless eyes
the programmed stepford motions
the chain store dress code movements
the bad sex tattooed as disappointment
the basket full of low fat lies
the antidepressant bottles of wine
and i’m in the check out queue
waiting to pay for my tissues
bars of chocolate and all 458 pages
of a £3.50 novel complete with
iconography a some perfect little
backlit cover goddess
watching my anti ageing creams
and over the counter headache pills
motor along the conveyor belt into
the child-like hands
of a gum chewing girl labelled joanne
i can’t tell the difference
i’m not sure if i’m alive or dead
there still exists a heroic defiant
act of survival
even as the little girl inside me
slowly
withers grey and starving
i have to wonder
is just carrying on
really such an easy option
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