shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Bio


Zoë is a Poet and Mum from Dukinfield. She has an MA in Poetry from Bath Spa University. Her work has appeared in Magma, The Lake, Atrium, Picaroon Poetry and The Black Light Engine Room amongst others. She was longlisted for the Ink, Sweat and Tears Pamphlet Competition Nov 2017.


Zoë Sîobhan Howarth-Lowe


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Fifty-Fifty Chances

It was a flip of the coin that decided
if I would live or die. That same coin
cheated both of you, my brothers,
out of the life that it placed in me:
the last born, unintentional mistake,
and our sister, the proud first-born.
Both she and I live when you do not.
I hear only of you in whispered secrets,
half-truths gleaned by my tentative mother.
The second wife, who hinted at your deaths,
unsure of the details, even your names
remain hidden from me. The coin flips again.