The Firebird Writers' Group
Celebrating two great writers' groups... and introducing a third.
Lauren Marshall-Nichols: Two Poems from Mother:
The First Time
I
fell
I fall
I am falling
Through this charcoal cavity
This atomless space-dust and burnt out star,
This blackened vacuum.
No catch
No fall
No I.
Space that isn’t There
I used to dream of those Sundays.
When the milky sun spits through the clouds
So there’s just rays shining down.
I used to dream it was God.
He was saying hello, I’m here.
I’ll keep you warm.
Maybe I misheard.
I have nightmares about it now.
In His place, there’s the devil in a white suit.
He isn’t sunlight peeling through clouds,
He is dust storms in the night
Choking me into darkness.
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'Lowering my pain-soaked body into the water, closing my eyes.
I seek him out, draw him into the bathtub with me.
I stroke his hair, cradle his head under the water as he screams, begs… '
As I did, then.
—From 'A Witch's Cure for Shame' in the Firebird Press anthology Resurgence.
Lauren Marshall-Nichols: Poet, Playwright and Prose Writer
L auren Marshall-Nichols is an eighteen year old university student, studying Life Sciences with Global Sustainable Development, who writes poetry in her spare time. She is a passionate activist for women’s rights, drawing inspiration for her verse from the experiences of other women around her.
She strives to write poems that act as a conversation starter to difficult but necessary discussions—about sexual assault, domestic violence and substance abuse. She hopes to show through her works that recovery is possible, and every survivor is stronger than they believe.
Her writing skills blossomed from being a childhood hobby into a way to share women’s stories, through prose, poetry, script and art, while completing her Creative Writing A-Level alongside her GCSEs.
In the future she hopes to combine her degree with writing, and has recently begun to dabble in nature poetry. She has also joined the Cobalt Society at university, a group that produces the university magazine, where her latest work will be featured.
