Deity
by and published in Edition Five of Pomegranate
All my life you’ve been there in some way.
You were the spiders crawling down my face in tears as I slept.
You were the ghouls that breathed breath by breath with me,
lying under the bed with toes where mine were.
You were the comb that combed my hair
and the owner of the slender wrist I saw in the mirror, guiding it.
You were the one I came crying to, mouth stretched wide and shuddering.
Yours were the godly hands that kneaded me
into the person I would be.
I rose from my childhood groomed to greet you.
And every wound is one you made. And every bite, in war or play, was you.
My body moulded as I slept
to fit the shape of yours, your solid shadow beside me.
Was your sculpture-work made my lips the shape I use to meet you.
Was you tuned my throat’s cords to the perfect pitch to greet you.
Your hand on the wheel that drove me here.
Coin cascade, white bull, swan, eagle, satyr, mist or king; I’ll know you.
In the sky, underwater, in the depths of the earth or from a bronze tower; I’ll reach you.
Whether white cow, weasel, constellation, statue, bear or doe; you have me.
Colette Sensier
Colette Sensier is 19 years old, originally from Sussex but currently in the first year of an English degree at King’s College, Cambridge. She has been a winner in the Foyle, Tower Poetry, and Peterloo prizes for young people at various times since 2005.