Medusa of the Pillow  
  
 I skirt our ruin of crumpled clothes,
 run the maze of underwear liberated 
 in candid haste.
  
           Carpet vibrations arouse interest,
 blonde hair wriggles from sleep's tangle -
 coils writhe, spar and strike.
  
           Strands snake from dawn's shadow,
 a dozen serpent heads woven in cotton
 bask in a blissful amber glow.
  
           My Medusa of the pillow wakes,
 her set bluestone eyes penetrate.
 Transfixed by the rhythm,
  
           unable to break our history of contact,
 I succumb to the potency of lore;
 soft tissues coalesce.        
           
           Her legend permeates my core.
 As the myth takes holds, she
 sculpts my mineral flesh.
   



 You Drove All Night?
  
  
 There you are,
 off-beat fingers drums
 to the radio's soft-rock.
 Nicotine talons tear
 the flesh of the steering wheel.
 Sweat stings somnolent eyes,
 blinks and lapses nudge 
 you near as your car 
 veers left to right 
 in a mist of white lines 
 and cat's-eyes.
  
 Then you coast to a standstill,
 kill the engine in urgent silence.
 Caffeine fuelled. 
 Testosterone courses, 
 veins throbs, tissue pulse 
 and conscience wanes
 as you jimmy the backdoor 
 I should've reinforced in Winter.
  
 Here I lay, 
 paralysed under covers
 we shared but had to divide.
 Nausea rises as your leers and lean
 wake me from pretend sleep.
 Stubbled and bloodshot, 
 the scented staleness 
 of brewers' cologne
 reveals you're drunk again.
 Gravelled flakes drop
 from your dried lips
 “I drove all night to make to love to you,
 is that alright?”.
  
 All I muster is a whispered
 'No'.
   

Ross McGivern is a Spalding based poet who began writing poetry again in 2014. He graduated from The Open University in 2018 with a BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing and makes the best cappuccino in town. Ross is a regular at open mics in Spalding and Lincoln, and also dabbles in music and painting.
Ross has self published two chapbooks of poetry The Featherstone Readings (2017) and Interpret (2018) which was inspired by a collaboration with the Norwich based artist Charlie James. His poems have also appeared in The Plastic Brain Presents Podcast, Hedgehog Press, Black Pear Press, Backcombed Magazine, and Openings – the annual anthology of the Open University Poets Society.