Versus
Summer rippling out, divided between
international cricket games and Mum baking pavlova.
We were masks: you, Wonder Woman,
and me, Poison Ivy.
Our legs on display. Tanned, imperfect
but unaware, stretched across the sun loungers,
summer-light, time-heavy. The weighted
pinch of the unforgiving plastic
snapping back at legs sheathed in sweat,
as if they were bonded.
Pull away and it’s impossible without
pain. You still smile for the camera.
It’s hidden behind Wonder Woman’s own,
but I see it, bud-tipped tongue sneaking
through the gap you’re supposed
to breathe.
SK GROUT grew up in Auckland, New Zealand and has lived in Frankfurt, Germany and Norwich, England. She currently lives in London. She is the author of the micro chapbook “to be female is to be interrogated” (2018, the poetry annals). Her work also appears in Landfall, Crannóg, The Interpreter’s House, L’Éphémère Review and elsewhere. Wanderlust, eco-living, social justice, queer love stories and writing remain priorities of her life. These topics fill most of her twittering at @indeskidge.