Unwelcome Home
there is no safety in having left
you are dragged back by a cold graze
memory cuts your clean slate skin
scratching it until it splits
cracks cross lines on paper maps
you are here
you are spread
you are lost in naked familiarity
your history is held captive
locked in city street corners
you bite their hard candy surface
you recoil from their snake bite sour
this place was rinsed but never washed
the past is a lingering taste
tainting the space between memories
smoke-signals extend their reach
waving across a landscape of half-lived years
this city is not yours
but you are held within it
its scraped-out shell will find you
it will paint you
it will never let you forget
you can never again be new
Sarah Jane Justice is a fiction writer, poet, musician and spoken-word artist based in Adelaide, South Australia. Among other achievements, she has performed in the National Finals of the Australian Poetry Slam, released two albums of her original music and seen her poetry and prose published in Australia and internationally. Find her at: on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
South Broadway Ghost Society 