Confession
sometimes,
I sit on God’s great tongue and let him
pamper me
as a child
I reached out for his many faces
but only ever found one,
makeup drowning white cheeks
yellowed teeth
and always the mask slipped
today I’m aiming for rapture
God lick me up and down
and scold me-
I don’t mind
Red room in dead city
the artist paints fruit
floating, shadowless
all the dear things she loves
chews on, spits
onto the Canvas
soon she’ll die, content in flowing robes
I hear
a man laughing
he is Father
no you are not dying he says
only ever so small.
I paint the artist
who paints the shadowless fruit
and floating
_________________
Vanessa Ackerman is a writer, actor and educator based in Cambridge, UK. Her writings and translations have appeared in publications such as Routledge Companion, Amethyst Review, Uppagus , Marble Poetry and Black Jack Editions. Her first full length play, Love, No Country was performed at the Cambridge Junction Theatre in July 2021 as part of Menagerie Theatre Company’s Hotbed Festival.