the sculpted lines around your eyes
chiselled dimples cavernous reminders
of something less than
satisfaction
maybe i pulled at your strings
too hard smothered you with disregard
made you believe in things
i could never follow through
things like this: me you
i shunned the things my mother said
about love about me
ripped girls like you from throat to chest
with nothing / everything but affection
gave them everything / nothing they’d crave without sincerity
isn’t that just like me?
tomorrow doesn’t exist,
you see
Header photograph © Darlene Anita Scott.
Paul Robert Mullen is a poet, musician and sociable loner from Southport, near Liverpool, U.K. He is a keen traveller, having lived and worked in China and Australia, and has scaled the entirety of Asia. He has three published poetry collections: curse this blue raincoat (2017), testimony (2018), and 35 (2018). He also enjoys Leonard Cohen, bass guitar riffs, porridge, paperback books with broken spines, and all things minimalist.