Illustration by Stela Brix

MOTHWINGS 

you ask why i keep cigarettes if  i

don’t smoke never notice the

scars  beneath my clothes  last

night when we argued over bread

you said  i was weird so i just

pulled the sheets over me until

your breathing turned even then

tiptoed down switched the iron to

Linen waited for the light to go

out and pressed it hard against

my thigh    did it again – tip to tip

– a hiss of steam  like it was

relief for the iron too – then back

to bed on the edge  my  back   to

you

Mary Mulholland is completing a masters in writing poetry at Newcastle University/ the Poetry School. She writes poetry and prose, has been published online, in several anthologies and been frequently shortlisted. She has a particular interest in psychology and the arts and has worked previously as journalist and psychotherapist. She’s widely travelled and lives in London.