Spillwords – F.C. MALBY

Poetry Publication in Spillwords Press

WE WANT OUR BODIES BACK

written by: FC Malby

@fcmalby

In memory of David Carrick’s survivors (they are not victims, they are survivors)

We want our bodies back
the flesh you took
thinking it was yours
for the keeping.

We want our bodies back
the ones you thought you
owned, like a play thing
a game of cat and mouse.

We want our bodies back
they are not for sale
and they do not belong
to you or your desires.

We want our bodies back
because you thought that
by dehumanising us it would
make your fragile ego stronger.

We want our bodies back
because you didn’t hear
our no, didn’t ask, and
because they are sacred.

You can read the original post at Spillwords Please leave a comment or a like on their site or here.

Poetry And A Publication Of The Month Nomination

In November, my poem, The Gentle Pace of Rest, was published in Spillwords Press and was nominated for Publication of the Month.

Damp, cavernous lengths
of tree bark flesh out across

woodland paths — nature’s
barrier to a destination,

thrown down in a storm
forcing you to pause, observe,

feel, scan the frilled rainbow
colours of the lichens and the

glow of beetles finding a
home. Time stands still after

the rains, here in the forest.
Ferns and yellow ochres calm

your senses, peel your mind
from furious emails and incessant

calls…. (continue reading at Spillwords)

This was followed by the publication of my poem, Oh, How You Will Fly, published this week.

Your beauty lies in what you do not show, your
strength in what you hide. You weathered storms

unseen and gather up the broken pieces to
hand to the potter. He will make all things new

restore what was lost. Only those who are
quiet will hear your song carried on a breeze

across oceans. The lark calls at daylight, the
owl by night. How sweet are the words of the

one bringing good news. When the world is still
you will wait for kind words and honest deeds… (continue reading at Spillwords)

You can listen to some of my stories, poems and novel extracts on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/fcmalby

Holding on to Life, FC Malby, Spillwords Press

My flash fiction, Holding on to Life, has been published with Spillwords Press…

HOLDING ON TO LIFE

written by: FC Malby

@fcmalby

I imagined him to be tall and dark, my twin brother, when she told me; similar personality, more confidence. Ma told me she’d bled heavily when she carried me, thought she’d lost me, ‘till her stomach kept growing after the doctor ordered bedrest. Didn’t have scans in them days, she said. Aunt Connie had been drafted in to help. Then I arrived after what I’m told is the longest and worst labour, like it was somehow my fault, that I’d been difficult or might have been responsible for his loss. She looked startled in most of my fading baby photos — the ones in tartan albums, labeled in biro —like she’d birthed an alien. There was an awkward distance between us that looked nothing like Madonna and Child. Ma thought she’d told me once, but with most of her stories, I’d heard this one on numerous occasions by the time I carried my own bairns.

The constant, gnawing gap in my life, the longing, the loneliness, it had always been there. I found his face in a few male friends over the years, the ones that were silly and funny and kind. But, I lost him as time unfurled, wondered whether he might have been a doctor, like my Pops, or a vet, maybe a teacher. Sometimes I would reach out a hand to see if he caught it, or hear his voice in a stranger’s. I’d look at men my age and wonder what it would feel like to have him here in the flesh, if we’d fight the way siblings do. I imagined he’d be a better version of me. We look for better all the time. They tell us in school to do better, be better. Better… (continue reading at Spillwords Press).