Echo Chamber
Women are bleeding in the back alleys, alcoves,
covering their breasts and babies’ heads, working
extra shifts for taxed Tampax and school vests.
They smoke to forget, smoke for an excuse
to leave the room, they are laughing, weeping
into wine in well-lit bars the right side of town.
They track themselves via satellites, weigh up stats
against taxi price. Winter draws their cages in
as lamplight pocks their path.
Hilary Watson lives in Cardiff. She graduated from the University of Warwick and was a Jerwood/Arvon Mentee. She was shortlisted for the Verve Poetry Prize 2020, the Troubadour Poetry Prize 2018 and has been published in the Magma, Butcher’s Dog, The Interpreter’s House, amongst other places. @poetryhilary (twitter) www.hilarywatson.co.uk