Free Verse Revolution:

As the deadline to submit to Issue VIII: Guinevere (rebirth) approaches (November 27th), we will be sharing a few poems which may help inspire you!

You can read more about Issue VIII and our guidelines below.

Rachel by Rebecca Goss

I spent the day being Rachel. I introduced myself as Rachel

to a stranger at the library, when we reached for the same copy

of The New Encyclopedia of Birds. I apologised in a way Rachel

would have apologised: prone to genuflection.

I let him take the book and wedge it under his armpit

so he could bend for his umbrella, just as I was telling him

my name was Rachel, but he turned and headed for the Loans desk.

I decided that as Rachel, I wasn’t interested in birds after all,

and anyway, I didn’t have a library card signed by Rachel

in black felt-pen, so I hit the big, circular button with a picture

of a wheelchair on it and waited for the doors to open fully.

I walked around the town, in rain that fell as if it was undecided

about its volume. Scant bursts would be the best way

to describe it, had someone telephoned, and after I’d said

Hello, this is Rachel speaking, told them about the weather.