Extract from Phobia

the beginning

I climbed out of the colours
out of the red and gold
of an illuminated letter
at the beginning

in the beginning was the word
was a lie I heard
but words are later

born out of the colours of the illuminated letter
at the beginning
of the first of the lines of black words
in the hard-worn brown book
that rested in the lap of the mother
until it was too heavy and she put it on the table
and hauled up the standing Girl
to sit in the lap as the mother
leaned over the table and ran her finger
under the black lines of words
uttering them quietly
out loud

these words was my beginning
as I twisted myself free in my colours
red and gold
spun and spindled round
twisted into my limbs

I’m abracadabra I’m genie
now you see me now you don’t
I’m a wick thing
I’m a jinn
I spring from the trap
made to keep her safe
from the dread
and the books

do you think she was not in danger
didn’t need me to protect her
what harm’s in a book
what harm’s in a mother reading to a daughter

/continues