[POETRY]

[03/09/26]

Away With the Fairies

Or, Slowly waking up from a morning daydream

by Anna Ticehurst

I've been thinking in scenes and dialogue and beginnings and scenes with middles and nitty-gritty and meat-of-the-matter and scenes with endings yet to be written, and laughs and gasps and hopefully even applause and reviews and critical acclaim and taste and in music; thinking in bars and patterns and strings and capos and blisters on fingertips and chipped glitter nail polish. Thinking in poets and writers and pens and paper and vibrant worlds of colliding images and in characters so real I could eat them for breakfast. Thinking in kilometres and footsteps and soggy socks on slippery pavements and market stalls and ringing bells and pounds in change and crumbs of toast and unlicked plates. In clashing colours in theatres and in gyms thinking in storage lockers and warm streetlamps and forgotten replies and fake FOMO and dirty pyjamas. Thinking about my copy of the phantom tollbooth and wait a minute where is that who has it and new faces and old neighbours and the local haunt and the ladies with yellow hair extensions and jumbo prams and fat gormless children who gurgle on their babyfuckingchinos right under my nose.

ANNA TICEHURST is a writer and performer from Manchester, England. Her written work spans poetry, prose and has recently been experimenting with more long-form shorts—whatever comes out. She currently edits Tummy Ache Magazine, has written for COLD magazine, and is putting on her first play in London in May.