Breath & Shadow
Spring 2025 - Vol. 22, Issue 2
"Someday, Severance"
written by
R C Birchley
She spoke/the words we never could. Instead we
swallowed (because The Rules said we had to)
suppress our voices compress our bodies
& shrink.
So we/found ways/to repress & soften scorches,
Ways to soothe/singed skin & suffocate/burnt throats,
small stabs/of air in the slowest/smother & never
ever summon/the siren-call/nor evoke the Suspiria.
Fine-honed over epochs/we sustained & set our switches
quietly to simmer. We taught our daughters to do the same
repeat repeal recede.
In her retelling/of the oldest Story/she shouts, spits
spews the contents/of ourselves we purged
so that we could/exist in some strained conformity
(as our foremothers did).
Her scripture etched/into stone, a memorial
to all those before (& after) us.
Seal it with spilled blood/cement our splintered bones,
scarred sinew and speak/the messy truths
of our coiled histories/to all the sightless
eyes, shuttered ears & soldered tongues;
sculpting the promise/of a future, the possibility
of severance.
R C Birchley (she/her) is a neurodivergent writer who lives in Portsmouth, UK. She writes speculative fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry, holds a creative writing MA (distinction), and is studying for a PhD. Her thesis is a blend of landscape writing and memoir. R C Birchley is a regular contributor to environmental writing community Pens of the Earth (https://pensoftheearth.co.uk/). Her writing has been published in anthologies Nightlines, Portsmouth: City of Stories 2020, Wild Seas, Wilder Cities, and in magazines Louder Than War, Star & Crescent, Seaside Gothic, Mugwort and The London Magazine.