by Jake Hawkey
I threw 10p into a well, making a wish that my life would always be difficult, knowing the diamond of me could not be fully formed if everything was easy-peasy- lemon-squeezy all the time I still believe this is the only wish God ever intervened to grant me, seeing a boyish reflection as I did from the top lip of the well, promise later I developed a terrible habit, a terrible habit I won’t go into here— despite miles & miles of contrary efforts why is it we change right at the precipice, when the enemy is at our black gate, when it feels like there’s nothing left to defend but a tatty bridge to a self we can no longer love or care to maintain? if the light of God does not let darkness remain, how does transformation arrive so late in the day, so improbably, like sunlight hitting a wristwatch on the other side of a lake, changing everything
Jake Hawkey studied art at the University of Westminster and poetry at Queen’s University Belfast. He was selected for Poetry Ireland Introductions in 2020 and is currently a poetry PhD candidate at Queen’s.