it comes charging in ripping this arm right
off eyes wild and red with rage giant
ears flapping against its vast white
leathery hide like an over-priced
modern art replica made of patented
skins sewn together in patterned patches
painstakingly matched by nine year-old
boys with bleeding fingers sitting cross
hatched on warped boards knees
knocking elbows bumping in the
steamy dimness of some third world slum
nearby crypto-coin miners herding
mercurial figures ever onward and the nine
year-old girls already dispatched
to some seedier market misfortunate others
hobbled and sold for less than the price
of a return phonecall to a scam number
from your ivory tower mobile phone
trunk calling charging like a wounded bull
elephant eyes wild and red with rage giant
ears flapping against its vast white
leathery hide as it rips off my write
arm but no worries
i still have another
unlike my slum
sisters and
brothers

Originally from Ireland, Anne Casey is a Sydney-based writer/literary editor with work widely published internationally. Her second poetry collection is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in 2019. She ranks in The Irish Times ‘Most-Read’ and has won or been shortlisted for poetry awards in Australia, the USA, UK, Ireland and Canada. Over a 25-year career, Anne has worked as a business journalist, magazine editor, media communications director and legal author.