I keep the tax returns under the paperweight,
the one with the feathers trapped
drifting through glass.
My degree certificates in the cupboard under the stairs
in a box labelled Cat Pictures.
My passport, in the flippy part of that old guitar case
lined with a velvety coffee-beige fluff.
Driving license behind the teapot
that I keep stuffed with dry teabags.
Birth certificate between the pages of Bleak House.
Ideas in the endless half-empty notebooks,
tears in the wine rack,
fears buried beyond the strawberry pots
on our crumbling garden wall.
Jealousies under my nails.
Joy, behind the butterfly
of my emerald earrings.
Hopes for you, between stretchmarks,
invisibly dreamed in
to these translucent, rippling tears
in my skin.

Lucent Dreaming 2022 Prize: Short Story, Flash Fiction and Poetry Winners and Shortlists
Announcing the winners and shortlists for the Lucent Dreaming 2022 Prize. Congratulations all!