‘Recently’ by Gemma Barnett

Recently

I’ve noticed

that a clothes hanger
motivates shoulders
and how knees balance a cello.

That a scruffy pup finds
the nap deep in its own tail.

That a ladder still works
even if you haven’t opened it properly.

That a finger gives up its last space to the nail.

That I came to this cafe to write but the sun
struck gaps in my fringe and a whirlpool
was painted on my forehead. That heat blazes

the tips of my leg hair and I am sweet
meringue. That mostly my pages are empty

because of how bravely quiet you make me.

That early this morning I woke,
looked so closely at your skin
it was grid paper and thought

I don’t want to sleep anymore.


Gemma Barnett is a poet, writer and actor. She won the ‘Poetry for Good’ Prize/BBC Words First in 2021. She was commended for the Outspoken Poetry Prize in 2023. Other published work can be found in Verve Press, Propel Literary Magazine/Anthology, AUB International Poetry Prize Anthology and Anthropocene.