stocktaking during venlafaxine discontinuation

head: there is a layer of air pressing upwards between brain and skull, like if you
apple cored my temples i would deflate a little
mind: holds canyons; i dream there are birds nesting in the hedging; a tally going
up really fast
eyes: dour cow eyes, the kind that look up through lashes; i see granules dissolve
in my coffee and am reminded that whitebait are many species
ears: when i typed i’m so in lobe with you; hearing the one leaf in the wind on
the driveway; i dig a capsule hotel in the white noise and fall asleep within it
mouth: a flatbed truck; a slap; there is a warning in the mass death of eels
teeth: not suitcases; bared like aegis
chest: the quietest panic attack happens when my heart is a small dog; the bk
coffee machine is cleaning itself and the screen that usually plays music
videos is just a list of files on a grey background
nipples: hard bits of gravel, the type that gets shunted in between your boot gills and
becomes part of the process
belly: full of proposals and kitchens
legs: rosehips, perhaps, descending; i am always blushing a path covered in
pebbles
feet: the grays river grass moth females don’t fly; i remember walking concrete
through that expanse of car dealerships

Lily Holloway is a queer 21-year old English and Ancient History student. You can find her most recent work in Midway Journal and Shanghai Poetry Lab. She is this year’s recipient of the Shimon Weinroth Prize in Poetry, the Kendrick Smithyman Scholarship for Poetry and second place in the Charles Brasch Young Writers’ Essay Competition. Her website is: lilyholloway.co.nz.