[DAMIEN POSTERINO]

This is no holiday

She hated her mother so joined a cult.
Just turned up one day in her thirties
and told us she had seen the light;
Be praised! No more holidays, birthdays
and no blood from another.
It reminded me of the day a heron swooped
into the garden and ate all the goldfish in the pond.
Within a few years her black hair turned white
like my mother’s Avon night cream;
I wondered if she was morphing into a ghost.

Her son and daughter,
bloated like pufferfish
and dressed in black
would sit on wooden chairs
devouring the good book.
Her husband only conversed to us drunk,
slurred the same question three times
then stumbled into suburbia to sleep it off.

I looked into her eyes
when she was talking about her rebirth-
I could see a small girl
inside those deep green pools .
She told me that she follows god’s law now.

[about]

Damien Posterino (he/him) is a Melbourne born poet in London. His poetry explores themes of characters, commentary and capturing moments in time. He has been published in recent editions of Fiery Scribe Review, Neuro Logical, Analogies & Allegories Literary Magazine, Abergavenny Small Press, BOMBFIRE, Jupiter Review, Fairy Piece Magazine, Poetic Sun Journal, Green Ink Poetry, Zero Readers and Melbourne Culture Corner. More are due to be published until January 2022. You can find him on Twitter at twitter.com/damienposterino