Scott-Patrick Mitchell
post-innocence
when we were young
we used to play kiss chasey
running around playgrounds
through tunnels, across monkey bars
wiping boy germs / girl germs
from our lips, with a laugh
now there is sex
fluid
rubber
& penetration
two selves trying to conquer
every fantasy they ever had
now there is sex
& uncertainty
prepping in the bathroom
biohazard bags & blood
the fluid, the rubber
the unseen open cuts
now there is sex
three letters
& mathematics
Scott-Patrick Mitchell’s work appears in New Poets (Fremantle Press, 2010) and Performance Poets (Fremantle Press, 2013) (Fremantle Press) as well as in The Turnrow Anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry (Desperation Press/ turnrow Books, 2013), Contemporary Australian Poetry (2016) and The Fremantle Press Anthology of Contemporary West Australian Poetry (2017). SPM is the Social Media Coordinator for WA Poets INC / Perth Poetry Festival.
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Here is today’s prompt
(optional as always)
Write a poem that contrasts two different times, places, or situations: then/now, single/married, younger/older, there/here, etc.