Friday, 17 March 2023

Stour Song - Lockdown by Irena Szirtes

   I visit the iron footbridge, where sudden twists of Stour echo the Wharfe, my childhood river. Nearby, light flitters over red cliffs, where the canal bends like liquid ribbon. They think confined bodies bring fettered minds. Not so. I visit the bridge from my cell, counting days until release.

   We all conform, with synchronized menstrual cycles and hurting hearts, except when I don't. They often demand to know her body’s whereabouts: I keep quiet. Ironic, isn’t it? They don't care she was “Filth, “dealing death as readily as drugs. Parole denied, but I can wait. Another six months is nothing, when you’ve survived heroin.

     But I won't see the Stour again. I must head North, away from undone lives and dirty needles, trail my fingers in the Wharfe, drown every last vestige of bloodlust. Fresh prison gossip whispers she lives, faked her death, has new identity. The crime I was framed, tried and punished for calls-no, compels me! I still have shocking connections-assistance and vindication guaranteed! Filth would be minced, devoured, digested, picked up piecemeal in plastic poop bags.

   Lucky for her they can't hold me in Worcestershire, as they hold me here. On 23rd March, 2020, I flee home.

4 comments:

Liz said...

I wonder whether lockdown at home will cool or intensify her desire for revenge? I suspect it will grow when she has nothing much else to think about. Crime did apparently fall during lockdown. Perhaps lockdown ending could be her 'Chapter Two'!

Irena Szirtes said...

Thanks Liz...I didn't think about another chapter, but the idea of having being punished for a crime you didn't commit fascinated me, could it be the perfect murder? I always like an ending where you aren't sure of the outcome, I don't even know it myself, but rather hope her better self prevails πŸ€”

Anonymous said...

The language in this is fantastic, Irena! I just love "where the canal bends like liquid ribbon"; it's such an imaginative, poetic and accurate description, producing a clear, vivid image.

This is a very well-written, evocative piece.

Alex

Irena Szirtes said...

Wow, thankyou so much πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚it started with lying in bed and imagining the landscape, and wondering how it would be to be kept from seeing it.