‘Too’, by RachDoesDesign
Too young to understand, Too scared to stay by RachDoesDesign Wales [The image features a form with chaotic hair spanning the entirety of the piece, lines and dots show the chaos of the mind]
‘The skin I wear’ by Wendy Jones
The skin I wear The skin I wear is a covering for my bones and flesh and I’m glad it holds it in but wonder sometimes why and sigh about the pain I’m in. It’s not as if I’ve fallen or didn’t watch where I was going, I was plodding on quite well I thought […]
‘hello pain let’s dance!’ by Wendy Jones
Hello pain let’s dance! Hello pain let’s dance together and cry a melody Just you and me forever which dance is it to be? A boogie or a waltz a tango or some jiving? Whatever the rhythm It’s time to do some living The violinist’s bow hews across its strings The drummer’s sticks do beat […]
‘Premature Ovarian Failure’, by S. L. Shuter
It’s 2am and my body is on fire. Every cell is boiling. Sweat creeps from my pores. It only takes a moment to soak through my favourite t-shirt, then through the sheets and mattress covered in yellow imprints. I can’t get any fucking sleep. This happens to me every night, up to ten times. Then […]
‘The Day That Never Ends’, by Mariana Gurgis
From our window, the clouds seemed static, frozen. Orange-and-green taxicabs drove through the slush six floors down. Tilly whimpered, buzzed for the nurse, asked for Dilaudid, whispered “good morning.” Swaddled in her sheets, she breathed hard. Phenolic air. She asked me how I was feeling. We lolled in our beds, our mothers asleep in their […]
‘SLEEPLESSNESS’, by Xie Licheng
My grandma had 7300 sleepless nights Until a Shanghai doctor said ‘You have restless legs’ Pills prescribed Leaflet read, Pramipexole Hydrochloride The 1st good night’s sleep In the 7301 nights. by Xie Licheng UK
‘In the name of Pain’, by Suchitra Awasthi
Pain is a pre-requisite to Creation. Take for example the process of bringing forth life. Albeit it is a painful process, nevertheless, it is also a glorious creation. History stands testimony to the fact that all the great ones who ever walked the Earth have risen to great heights walking through the aisle of pain. […]
‘The Question’ (Anon.)
Anon. Germany
‘The Ache’, by Kitty Frilling
It wouldn’t be fair to say the ache starts every morning as I wake. Or truthfully that I wake at all, more I become conscious… of the pain. The fire started small and young. Fickle flickering up my spine. Across my shoulders like a seasoned log, spreading further, faster as I age. It took hold. […]
‘The Night Shift’, by Libby R.
When he was dying, I swallowed a CoCodamol before bedtime as if it were hot chocolate. I craftily attributed my zen-like calm in the face of helping Dad as he pissed blood into a plastic pot at 3am – I don’t know what’s happening to me, he said, again and again – to my sensible […]