25 by Hannah Healey (United Kingdom, 25)

Yesterday I turned 25.
The sky is a dark bruise,
October was a landslide.

I am playing an old song
In a hollowed-out kitchen.
It’s a storm-soaked afternoon and

I am waking up reeling in the lonely blue,
The unyielding penumbra of youth:
Here are decisions

I made slowly, and without realising;
Feelings I thought were infinite and
Could not be beaten to death.

This is a poem for Claire,
Who changed or who changed me.
I realised yesterday that we might never speak again.



​Hannah Healey is 25 years old and lives in London. She has a degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford. She has previously been longlisted for a Grindstone Literary prize.