you learned to shrink
for a family that liked
it’s daughters invisible
my whole family
lurked invisibly
for generations
in the corners of rooms
or on barrack room bunks
silent till summoned
quiet in the land
you learned the art
of being empty
believing them
when they told you
you are nothing
we never needed to be told
we knew our place
waiting in the shadows
to fulfil our better’s needs.
or die obediently in their wars.
sadness is living
in places
it shouldn’t live
it can creep
in the very bones
of a person
you don’t see it
it just is
it drops your head
and shrinks your chest
there’s no reason
it just is
it’s on your clothes
it’s in the air
there’s no reason
it’s just there.
From Light and Bitter on Wattpad
I’d never heard of fanfic till I started writing on Wattpad now I’ve realised with a start I’m practically writing the stuff.
My new Wattpad book Light and Bitter is my failed attempt to write like best selling poet Rupi Kaur. I say failed because our styles are totally different.
Rupi made her name on Instagram. Her work is invariably short, often striking but to my mind not really Poetry. I’m intrigued more than a fan.
Sometimes Light and Bitter tries to imitate from a different perspective. Other times it will expand on a suggested theme or question what has been written.
Is this fan fiction? Perhaps I’ve invented a new genre Fan Friction?
From Light and Bitter on Wattpad
i could never get things right
a constant disappointment
but now i’m turning into you
afraid of your voice
i learned not to speak
you were quiet too
the silence more wounding than words
a man’s silence is different
from a woman’s
it speaks of feelings
he dare not broach
we can bleed
but must not cry
what was it
you never said
to me and why?
Andrew Green's Poems 