Listen to Kate reading this poem:
What I won’t tell you is that I nailed my foot to the floorboard. I found a hammer under the sink. The nail was the focus of my whole body as I considered the position — in between the tendons and the gentle sloping structure of the upper muscles, and I hammered slowly, for precision. And there, I understood, for once, the ways in which the mind can wander — for I could hear my soul above me making the noises of fans and flight as it looked down my windpipe, overturning hymns in the sky as I worked alone at night, tethering myself to the earth.
Kate Vanhinsbergh is a Pushcart-nominated poet from Manchester, UK. She has poems published or forthcoming in Iamb, Black Bough, Ink Sweat & Tears, Anomaly, We Hyperfocus, After… and others. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Keele University, and can be found on Instagram @kate.vanhinsbergh or X @katevanbergh