Quilt me a blanket by Selma Carvalho

Selma Carvalho’s fiction and poetry has been published in Litro, Lighthouse and Mechanics’ Institute Review (Birkbeck). Her work has appeared in several anthologies including the London Short Story Prize 2017 Anthology (Kingston University Press; 2018) for which she was a shortlist finalist. She has been placed in numerous short story competitions, most recently as runner-up for the Dinesh Allirajah Prize 2017 (Comma Press & UCLan). She is the winner of the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize 2018 (Dahlia Publishing).

 

Quilt me a blanket


 

of your rejections, tomorrow

I shall rise with the first

shavings of spring.

The robins have been

in the hollows

gathering dead leaves.

The cat has been awake

listening intently to our holly

hedgerow of romping green.

Winter’s leavings are still on

Brunswick limbs, some sightings

of sun have emboldened glistening

wasps to lie with galls bulging pink.

I seek hope in Easter leavenings,

reddening the underside

of your yearnings. Prise open your

rhubarb-red mouth and let my tongue

slide in.

Selma Carvalho

 

 

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