Irritatingly skinny clouds
A journey poem
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I stared at a deer’s entrails on the asphalt,
winced
pictured my own — about to leave me,
concentrated hard
on the sensation of my fingernails,
digging
sinking deep into the padding of the front seat,
half expecting it to become saturated,
hot flux seeping through the seam
at any moment,
wishing
everything — this car, this bad dream, this tightening—
would stop!
but hurry up! at the same time
while my father gripped the wheel
and told me random stories from the 80s
in his lovingly awkward way,
gently rocking me
between decades
through the pain, indignity, dismay
until I couldn’t reply
and we drove on, under grey skies
with irritatingly skinny clouds
that seemed to blow the wrong direction,
moving
like my breathing — fast and shallow —
in the exact opposite way
to what I’d learned and practiced and
repeatedly told myself I’d do
when this situation finally arose.
Amy Knight 2021
This poem made the longlist for the Aurora Prize For Writing with East Midlands Writing School (WEM), UK in 2021.
I shared a few thoughts about it on Instagram.
“huge thanks to all you brave writers, who put your amazing work out there, and made it so difficult to choose. We salute each and every one of you” — WEM
I think it’s really important that up and coming writers enter these sorts of competitions. We have to keep testing the water with our work, and deadlines for entries help us holding ourselves accountable.
Do you agree? Leave a comment below with your experience of entering your work.
Irritatingly skinny clouds deviates a little from my typical poetic style. Readers — please let me know how you feel about it and whether you’d like more like this! A x
Also by this author
Headstand | A paper poem by Amy Knight | Paper Poetry (medium.com)
