The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: The Light We Cannot See by Anne Casey

This selection, chosen by Guest Curator Kirsten Kowalewski, is from The Light We Cannot See by Anne Casey, released by Salmon Poetry in 2021.

One minute to midnight

We
check // her
temper at ure at reg ular
inter vals, alrea dy knOw ing the
ans wer // our fell ed be aut y loll s
in fever ish d reams // e ach b r e a th a lab our:
her l un gs in flame d // all her art eries slOw ly
c logging // cutt ing of f her legs has not s av ed her:
she is s O t ired no w // e ach palp it at ion of her he art
a suffer an ce: she ach es ever y w here for her l o s t
l im bs, l im ply gr ieving her be love d dead // we check
her temper at ure at reg ul ar in ter vals // alrea dy
kn Ow ing the ans we r: an other two de gr ees & she’s
coo ked: cat as trophi c c ell ul ar de c ay // a cute r
esp ira tor y di stre ss cO me s ne xt, ent ire spec
ies annihil at ion // Gaia is blee ding fr
O m h e r e y e s // fr Om in s ide:
f r O m O ur h and s // we’ re h e r
k ill er st (r)
a i n

Originally from the west of Ireland and living in Sydney, Anne Casey is author of five poetry collections. A journalist and legal author for 30 years, her work is widely published internationally, ranking in The Irish Times‘ Most Read. Anne has won literary awards in Ireland, Australia, the UK, Canada, Hong Kong and the USA, most recently American Writers Review 2021 and the Henry Lawson Prize 2022. She is the recipient of an Australian Government scholarship and a bursary for her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Technology Sydney where she researches and teaches.

Kirsten Kowalewski is the editor for online horror fiction review resource Monster Librarian. She has an MLS and a specialist certificate in school library media from Indiana University, has worked as a children’s librarian and elementary school media specialist, and is a lifelong reader.