To Piece the Poems Together | Meg Hardie-Boyes

Writing a poem is not as easy as you think. I know because I write one every day. It's how I keep my life together.

Being alone

Is like being wrapped up as a present

Wrapped up in your own world

Never to be opened

When all you can see is thunderstorms,

the sense that no-one else is there

seeps into your body

and finds a way to let you down

The wrapping paper is gathering dust

When the sun in your heart is

Shining

You sit down

Grab a book

And wait for someone to come

And they always do

The wrapping paper is being torn

Open

And uncovering the present inside

You.

I slam my poem book down on the bed, hard. That was one of my best poems but of course it’s not about me. When I am alone, nobody comes. I am by myself for ages.

My name is Millie River. I live with my three brothers and three sisters all squashed in the one house. My bedroom is a cupboard. I have a little bed in the right corner. Writing poems is how I keep my life together, sitting down on my bed. A bit like waiting to die!