Amy Gillies
Boys
There are boys who spit out sentences,
That they should have chewed on for longer
They draw in shallow breathes
Wasting the capacity of their lungs
There are boys who are not precious about the air that they breathe
Because they know it will always come back to them
There are boys who will shout slurs across a crowded tube
With the knowledge that no one will hear them|
There are boys who wear white skin
The same way that they wear their white trainers
There are boys who can see through women
Even when they are just girls
They can dig into flesh and excavate the dyke that is buried there
They can see that you look with the same eyes as they do
Even when you are looking at the ground
There are boys who believe that a girl can be enough of a boy to be beaten like one
And those boys will laugh through her discomfort
There are boys who know that she will never speak of what happened
Until she is twenty-three years old
There are boys who can see through a women
And leave a bruise on her transparent skin
And these boys
Will think they have done nothing wrong
They will forget her, in time
Brazilian Snow Plant
Razor blades are hidden in a bar of soap
That is resting on a yellow countertop,
In a damp bathroom.
The sting of scalding bath water
Is righteous and welcome.
It is pink flesh and peppermint.
As her body sinks,
she recalls last year’s late winter.
The rosemary oil and rough touch.
The mole on her breast,
And the air that haunted her cheap flat.
Her toes curl from the fantasy of her younger self.
A release that ushers in distaste.
But lingering for those solemn seconds
Is the memory of a lilac ceiling,
That washed away with the water.
Amy Gillies is a contemporary artist who lives and works in London. Employing painting and poetry as a vehicle for social and political dialogue, her practice is concerned with the memory of the past and the politics of the present.
In 2019, Amy completed an MFA in Fine Art from Kingston School of Art, where she had studied a BA Hons in Fine Art and Art History previously. Since graduating, Amy has taken part in the Artists in Residence programme at One Paved Court in Richmond and has exhibited and performed in several group exhibitions including The London Art Grads Now 2021 at Saatchi Gallery.