ruby winters

poetry at all hours 

[ruby-winters]

Love dressed us as kids She was warm In the kitchen she created a world of craft Sprawled out Her arms around us We knew we were loved

But when he came he Blew out candles like he had something to prove

One by one he put us in the dark Our mother’s light snuck under the doorway and crept around the occasional birthday message when she was allowed to

He undressed love with violence We shared a house No longer a home

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

I didn’t hear from you when Mum died How strange We’d spent summers moulding like fruit in jars sticky and sweet Winters in coat pockets Only for your to hide When it all mattered -Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

How long is August

Where the wind blows

Our Mother’s hand

Can no longer be held

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

Mum leaves in her sleep

Without a child to weep

And her hand that once held my fathers

Is cold

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

I call two or three times a day I call just to hear about your day I call just to say your name I call hoping this will all go away I call wishing you could stay I call for a comfort I know is slipping away I call you Mum because I love you Today and everyday …………………….. - Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

And in another world your Mum is helping us pick the light fittings and the wall trimmings

And it feels like the home you grew up in

Only now you’re safe as we try to heal

The inherited lump sum of loneliness and inattention

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

And in another world your Mum is helping us pick the light fittings and the wall trimmings

And it feels like the home you grew up in

Only now you’re safe as we try to heal

The inherited lump sum of loneliness and screen attention

My Mum’s dead and yours won’t listen

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

The mundane is magical

When

Folded in the arms of someone

You love

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

The hardest part of watching you die

Was you thinking he was keeping you alive

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

The lights are so bright

Living in a

Perpetual shade

Wondering when we’ll escape

The web he weaved

When will you be free

To leave

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

Hot tears chase the summer breeze and

Midnight skies bleed into

Low lights that pass us by

Paper towns and paper hearts

We stretch hellos into goodbyes

Please stay

Stay on the line and we

Can just talk all night

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

I’m grieving in a new city

With old bones

Trying to make a home

Between where I was with you

And where I am alone

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

You’ve come at the wrong time

Rings in my ears

Like a song we used to sing

And I’ve forgotten the sound

Take me back to when he wasn’t around

And I still called you Mum

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

I’ve done it again

Haven’t slept since last week

Trying to piece together

A reason for you

To believe

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

I practise my grief

Like it’s our first dance

And I’m afraid to hold hands

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

I wasn’t quite ready to leave

As the train pulled away from you

And I wondered were we always living

On the other side of the tracks

Watching our backs

Love had died in all the places we tried to plant her

- Ruby Winters

[ruby-winters]

Should you wake from your desire

With nothing but eyes of lust

Think fondly of the love we held

And that will be enough

- Ruby Winters