Public Knowledge Revisited

Public Knowledge

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She tortures the stem of her glass,

Her anxiety spills over the rim.

The stain spreads like rumour

Darkening the space in between.

She has bitten hard on her lip,

Driven nails through her palms.

She has run up flags of distress

She has surrendered her charms.

.

The conversation rushes her ears,

A sea of voices without words.

She is pinned against the iron-grey sky

To suffer the mocking of birds.

She watches him carefully take

An aerial survey of her wounds.

He completes a nervous wide circle

And leaves her finally marooned.

.

Her hand crawls past the decanter

And clamps a manacle on his wrist.

A circle of thumb and forefinger

Against the hard rock of his fist.

There is an embarrassment of silence

As the conversation turns tide.

A panic of wings beating upwards

Escape the inevitable divide.

.

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© The author writing as Romantic Dominant

Photo stolen from the web, but its provenance lost

A dinner party among friends.  The moment she realises what everyone else already knew …