Inspired by Mental Health Week that is sweeping across Australia.
Empty
like a glass of wine
on a Friday night
spinning happily
wonderland
spices and chilli
stings shivering nerves
casacade of goosebumps
the real world screams
from all directions
piano keys at her temples
bass at her heart
eyes like lead
oh, a paper-weight of a head
Downton’s Daisy, is
devilishly clever
a marionette under the wrong master
she doesn’t know what to do
society says she will not do
in her family tree of servitude.
That story stops there
hack and halve and hack again
dreams submerge reality
or is the other way around?
She is tired.
She is empty.
She breaks her down
to build her up.
She is the builder.
Charlie Ann Alford 