Photo by Seán Kiely

Suburbia

Outside, the lightning was swift;

a sudden rain against my skin,

blurring your features into a single gash.

The grey weeds

that spread and withered the yard

where you buried your black thoughts

have gone yellow.

Our laundry is hung out as open and raw

as strips of new skin.

You sunbathe on the porch

like a corpse,

your mouth a blood plum against

the ruin of your face,

your body quiet as our empty house.

You have acquired a coldness

I know

but not enough

to own.

(Previously published in Poetry Salzburg Review)

Natalie Crick from Newcastle has poetry published in Interpreter’s House, Bare Fiction, The Manchester Review, The Honest Ulsterman, The Moth, The Stony Thursday Book, Poetry Scotland, Crannog, Plath Profiles, Expound and elsewhere. Poems are forthcoming in New Welsh Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, Lighthouse and elsewhere. Natalie’s poems have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize twice and this year her poem ‘Anorexia’ was shortlisted for The Anthony Cronin International Poetry Award 2018. She is co-editor of Newcastle University’s literary blog Bridges with fellow student Natalie Dunn (MA Creative Writing). Natalie is a Year 2 Writing Poetry MA student at Newcastle University.