Guest Poem by B. Anne Adriaens

B. Anne Adriaens’ poetry and fiction reflect her interest in alienation and dystopia, as well as her concerns about the environment. Her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including Poetry Ireland Review, Ink Sweat and Tears, Abridged, Poetry Salzburg Review, Skylight 47 and The Other Side of Hope. She currently lives in Somerset.

Pietà, inverted

I meet you halfway
across the wasteland of your mind
to find you plonked on the ground,
drawing circles in the dust.
I sit down behind you,
wrap myself around your frame,
so small I could doubt
you gave birth to me – you,
this shell I’m holding and rocking –
and I drop a whisper in your ear
to fill the space
where complex thought once grew.
In your lostness perhaps you believe
you used to do this for me.
Yet you only ask:
Is it raining where you are?