Small words. Never intended to bite, surely?
Yet they manage to pierce the tenderness
under the nail.
The head cautions ignore them.
Heart wails, not until I’ve gnawed
at this unfresh bone
for a few months more.

I am writing this with heart tight shut,
my eyes clear open,
but all I see is the taste
of dry old bone
that will not stay buried
under the small words
carved on its grave marker.

J.S.Watts is a UK novelist and poet. Her writing appears in publications internationally and has been broadcast on BBC and Independent Radio. She has published two poetry collections, Cats and Other Myths and Years Ago You Coloured Me, plus an award-nominated SF poetry pamphlet Songs of Steelyard Sue – all by Lapwing Publications. See here for further details.