keeper of the bones

they do not
make for
reading chairs;
these piles of bone.
jarring phalanges
too intimate,
nudge and press the skin
of our seats with that night
etched deep into calcium.
the bones are still
and we can not.
left-bum-right-bum
shift and sway.
piles of bones
do not make for
tea-time ottomans
but do brew
things you could never guess to tell
just by looking at her,
those never-never-agains
and silly-lost selves,
found now to ossify,
and dissolve off of our brains
but leave us sitting
foolishly, uncomfortably
on unoriginal secrets.

Published by

saaleha

I am a writer and photographer (look up my work on www.shootcake.com) based in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have an MA in Creative Writing from the university currently known as Rhodes. My writing accolades include winning the 2014 Writivism Short Story Prize and the 2020 Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize for my debut collection, Zikr.

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