TW: Graphic images of blood.
It’s early,
Or maybe it’s late.
I’m awoken by a damp, warm feeling hugging the top of my thighs.
I flick on the brash light, stinging my eyes,
My white sheets are decorated with blood.
It’s dark red and there’s so much of it,
It looks like I’ve been slit open on an operating table,
Someone played around with blood in my sleep.
I rip the sheets off;
Ruined purity.
The blood is everywhere,
All over my defiled lower half.
And for a minute,
The colour of my skin isn’t me.
Is this what it means to be a woman?
---- Lorna McBain (Guest Poet)
Lorna McBain is an award-winning Young Poet, recognised in the HART Prize 2021 Intermediate creative category for her poem ‘Childless Mothers’ on the devastating impact of the Syrian War. Lorna has also been published in the Young Poets' anthology for the Stratford upon Avon Literary Festival 2021 and has previously been published in RISENzine, The Global Youth Review and several other literary magazines. Lorna began writing poetry in March 2020, with her first publication in October 2020. When she's not writing Lorna can often be found reading, watching old movies, and listening to an eclectic range of music.
