The Poet by Doryn Herbst

CW: Domestic Violence

has created an oasis of invention for himself

in a studio with glass windows and a glass ceiling,

surrounded by green plants, air and light.

His spirit is free

to fly,

to release words from his head

for a world waiting

for his lines.

Here, he is content.

The poet comes home

at the end of a day’s work,

bangs his wife’s head against the fridge door

if she annoys him.

And because she is scared of him,

she finds herself stumbling and doing

something that annoys him.

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Doryn Herbst (she/her), originally a scientist working in the water industry, Wales, now lives in Germany and is a deputy local councillor. Her writing considers the natural world but also darker topics such as domestic violence, abuse and bullying. Doryn has poetry in Fahmidan Journal and the Metamorffosis Festival 2021, Bangor. She is a reviewer at Consilience science poetry journal. Twitter @DorynHerbst