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Poetic Licence: ‘On Repeat’ by Catrina McCrae

Welcome to Poetic Licence – a weekly poetry forum, hosted by us, featuring words by local poets. This week? A love poem by Catrina McCrae.
0525 Poem
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Welcome to Poetic Licence – a weekly poetry forum, hosted by us, featuring words by local poets. This week? A love poem by Catrina McCrae.
 

On Repeat

Wishing I could shed my skin like the way 


You used to shed your clothes


Draping them over bedposts like robed stilts


I forgot that your voice sounded like that,

Like summer honey

Our love heroin-sweet


Tacky 
8 months sober 


And I'm relapsing from the smallest hit


My head, the exorcist, spinning 'round from your possession in my veins 


Vivid hallucinations, reflections 


I feel like I can recall every hair on your head 


The way your jaw meets your neck 


The rounding of your nails 
I'm tripping


Over my words, my foot in my mouth


I'll bite hard and swallow the blood, the hot metallic


Cover up the bitter taste of your ghost 


A temporary fix


When will we learn?


Catrina McCrae (@CatrinaMcCrae) is a “big ball of unrelenting love and crippling anxiety and uses her shaky hands to craft words together, to fold herself into downward dogs and to give hugs to whoever needs 'em.”

To submit your own poetry to Poetic Licence, email [email protected] with Poetry Column in the subject line. Include your poem, full name, contact details and bio. Only those selected for the column will be contacted. 

 

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