Freshly Trimmed & Countdown by Areebah Armani
Freshly Trimmed
my skirt is shorter than my bangs
freshly trimmed, scissors slipped
cut off more than i could chew
or wash down the sink
in father’s bathroom – whirlpool
into cupped hands, knees shaking
in the arctic breeze – will their gaze
still float my way with an alien
forehead and no skin to weave
their boney fingers between?
father was right and i was wrong
i am mother-stubborn but i was wrong
my legs are dead and i am feral
i should have stayed a daughter
Countdown
She lived with curtains drawn
For half a decade she suffocated
On whispers and scratching at the walls
Inching towards the ceiling and inching
Towards her sanity, barely intact
Like the sheet covering the mirror
Facing her bed; diaphanous and threatening
Her as she slept with bugs crawling
Under her own skin, she was not safe
In this house with no windows,
No mirrors, no way out yet so many
Entrances she could not count
How many days were left?
“I hid these poems away because they are not metaphors. They are so raw and real that it unnerves me. I am usually more cryptic in my writing, so telling the truth scares me.”
Areebah Armani (they/them) is an emerging Australian writer and artist on Darug and Dharawal land, with an affinity for depraved literature and porcelain skulls. You can find them at the Instagram handle @reebahroyale.