Amy Slater

I have been writing for a while now, starting when I studied English in school. I plan to continue writing.
In 2006 I began studies at Aberdeen University.

Poems

EMPTY TRENCH COAT

Sleeping in a street light.
Head relaxed on the post.
Encased by the darkness,
Protected by an orange glow.

Nothing but a trench-coat,
Everyone knows what’s there.

While her eyes close briefly,
A fairytale picture comes to mind.
Her childhood dream – to act.
She’ll fulfil it now.

We can’t help her, she out of the warmth.
Climbing into a car, no lights.
She’s not herself, some stranger.
Acting.

Easy money?
Or the hardest job in the world.
Because she has nothing.
Money can’t buy herself back.

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BUT EVERYTHING CHANGES

His eyes were broken,
With direct link to his heart.
His skin was grated,
His mind deflated,
And he wanted to go home.

Home didn’t wait for him.
With false news
It swam by.

He stayed strong,
With dreams of worlds with no change.
He made his work disembodied,
And got out.

Change is inevitable.

He didn’t recognise this place,
With patches missing
New structures made.
Hopefulness still burned warm.

But his children had new faces,
Almost foreign to him.
And a few new ones.

So he left,
And he did what he put off doing,
What he had only done to others.

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ADOPTING PERSONA

Now might be a good time to keep my head down,
I’ve made another tiny mistake.
It’s a minor error; I’m being caught out.
Calm down, not again.
I won’t be caught, I covered my tracks.
We all know I’m better than the system.

I only wanted to scare him,
I forgot the power
Of a loaded gun.
I couldn’t resist his look of fear.
I was never in control of my parents
And they were always allowed something over me.

Anyway, it’s her fault I did it,
My mum.
Telling me never to hit a kid with glasses.
Well he wasn’t a kid –
But glasses.
So I tried to shock him –
Must say, it worked.
His mouth was frozen, wide.
A gaping hole
That I saw my life slipping into.
Obviously not living –
I’ll still live,
But my life.

They won’t visit me,
She won’t visit me.
She says she needs to move on now.
Not sorry.
I’m throwing it away –
It was broken years ago.

It’ll all be different this time –
Round two.
The years are just to scare me,
It’ll be months.
With no one to phone –
Trade cards in for sedation.
I’ll just sleep til they wake me,
Work,
Eat what they give me.
Stay low and hidden,
You can crawl through.

To start again,
And try.
I’m optimistic,
But trained to make mistakes.

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