poetry snapshots: shanta everington

To Die For



Half a packet of raindrops and

as much ice cold water as

you can drink for your body

to warm up and burn. He

pinches half a millimetre

of flesh on my ribs and says,

You need to take better care

of yourself, my dear. I peer

through the veil of my fringe and

nod my head three millimetres,

picturing my picture in the papers.

I  can be ready in a week. I peek

at the tick next to my name.

Next. My smiling eyes roll

down over the twigs of my toes

and all the way to the park where



I will perform a hundred star jumps

and remember how your skin

used to shine when you laughed.

For you understood it was important.




First published in Seeking Refuge, edited by Jan Fortune-Wood, Cinnamon Press.





Shanta Everington is the author of literary novel, Marilyn and Me (Cinnamon Press) and YA novel, Give Me a Sign (Flame Books) Shanta’s first poetry chapbook, Drowning in Cherryade, will be published by Bedouin Books later this year and she has two YA novels forthcoming for 2013 - Boy Red (Musa Publishing) and XY( Red Telephone Books).