Drawing Down the Moon

Adele Hally

The frayed hems of our skirts sweep

the ground in our wake,

bare feet blistered from girl games

of torture and mettle.

Tiny silver bells tinkle around our ankles.

We are loud, we are shamefaced.

Careless, we toss our fledgling bodies

into the waves,

craving the tumult, a powerlessness

only we can choose. Blasted clean with salt

and freedom, flesh charred, peeling

like the faded wallpaper

in that haunted house we are too scared

to speak of. Forget the snarling, collarless dogs,

the humming vans waiting on the shadowy side

of back lanes.

Forget the snare, the noose, the quicksand.

We have the sea,

a lit candle, and

the luck of swallows.

ADELE HALLY is an Australian writer. She is currently slowly working her way through a BA majoring in creative writing at Curtin University. She has had work published in Phantom Kangaroo, Folklore Review, and in the Hunter Writer’s Centre 2024 Grieve anthology.