Chucking Out Time by Rachel Burns

A large tree in the middle of green woodland. Large white text reads: Chucking Out Time. Smaller text reads: Discussing disabled characters in fairy tales and folklore.

Kat and me   leg it for the last bus
drunk as a pair of skunks
 
it’s brass monkeys out
the sky lit up bright with pub lights
 
we’ve supped in them all
drink after drink after drink
 
The Mucky Duck   Coach & Eight
The King’s Head   The Mill
 
People spill out onto the pavement
head for the only take-away in town
 
where last week Ryan Bridgewater
was stabbed   fell through the shop window
 
Kat and me   have missed the bus
ran out of steam   money and fags
 
we hitch a ride
with a group of lads
 
I left town   never looked back
Kat stayed   had a bairn at fifteen
 
Later she meets my uncle at Rehab
He gives me Kat’s number   says   ring her
 
I don’t call    What can I say?
Sorry   we got into that car
 
Sorry   I left you behind
Not sorry    I got away

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About the author:
Rachel Burns is a writer living with disability and chronic illness. She lives on the outskirts of Durham, England. Her debut poetry pamphlet, A Girl in a Blue Dress, is published by Vane Women Press. She is published in literary magazines including Butcher Dog, Mslexia, The Rialto, The Moth, and Magma Poetry. Rachel was shortlisted in the 2017 Keats-Shelley Prize, came second in The Julian Lennon Prize For Poetry 2021, and was longlisted in The National Poetry competition 2021.