Anti-Heroin Chic
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

​

11/25/2020

Poetry by Naoise Gale

Picture
                          Holly Lay CC



Autumn

Days like this when lightning
Smacks the grey cheek of sky,
I want to use so much my 
Teeth hurt, I see an alternative
Autumn in my third constricted
Eye – maple leaves and bald 
Birches, robins that bob childlike
In the serene breeze, occasional
Whiteness that fills the earth
With pill cleanliness. I want to
Sink and never emerge; I want
To close my lids and let 
Consciousness fester in some 
Other poor soul. There is an
Insect on my desk which
Irks me but I cannot kill. I
Am a feast of greyness in
The drizzly afternoon. Do
Not talk to me in absolutes.
I can only see haze clearly.
I can only see a girl with
A needle and thread.
I can only see the needle,
Star-bright. I cannot
See the stars. Open my eyes.

​


Love

Some days I want to be cleaner
Than ice, my pussy covered in
Haystack-hair, unreachable, 
A battalion of wiry pubics 
Forcing you away, disgusted,
From my natural femininity. 
I want to stare at my reflection
And see the broken, busted
Curves of my once-fit body,
The bloody striations around
My hips and thighs that match
Those in my eyes once I’m
Done puking; I want to press
My hands on my uncorrupted
Skin and imagine one million
Ghostly fingers grasping my 
Body, hungry as vultures,
Wanting me so desperately
Their eyes shine like those
Of a shark and they bulge
At the trousers. I want them
To want me and I want to
Say no – sometimes so loud
They splinter and crack, semen
A pale trail in their pathetic
Jeans; sometimes so quietly
They don’t hear and ravage
Me regardless, my mute 
Mouth closed and ugly, my
Breasts strange creatures
That bounce like winter
Robins and illicit strange
Noises. I want to be bruised
Inside and I want to lay in
My white sheets with my
Fleecy Christmas pajamas
On, no make-up, kiss you
Softer than breath. I think
I have fallen in love twice:
The first one never called 
Me back; the second only
Liked girls under fifty
Kilograms. He made collages
Of Audrey Hepburn – I had the
Eyes, those dark, mystical eyes,
But my belly hung over the
Trench of my largest jeans
And in a dress my flesh
Spilled out like a stream of 
Cheap beer. I don’t fall
In love anymore, I fall in death.
I can’t help smiling when you
Say my name. I imagine us 
Together as I stuff junk food
In my plain, virginal mouth,
I imagine us talking about
Music and poetry and the
Seventies neither of us saw. 
I imagine telling you about
The drug thing and the puking
Thing and you holding me 
Tight enough that the 
Touch doesn’t burn. I imagine
It as I throw up; I imagine it
As I stumble down the stairs;
I imagine it as curl into my
Cool sheets – alone, always 
Alone.

​
Picture
Naoise Gale is a twenty-year-old Modern Languages student living in Italy. She writes poems, short stories and novellas about mental health, eating disorders, and addiction. Her work has been published by Cephalo Press, Rabid Oak, Anti Heroin Chic, Divergent and Cobalt. She was also runner up in the Parkinson’s Art Poetry Competition 2020.  

Susan Kay Anderson
12/5/2020 11:07:49 pm

Amazing writing. So glad I found your work here.

Naoise Gale
12/6/2020 02:55:35 pm

Thank you so much, that means a lot


Comments are closed.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    December 2024
    November 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    March 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.