Image: Elijah Hiett on Unsplash

Sam Arrowsmith is a recent graduate of the University of Birmingham. His academic background includes a biochemistry bachelors and a biotechnology masters. Outside of science, he is an aspiring comedian, writer and artist.

 

Princess on a plastic throne

From the simple shapes
of flat arid plains
and stone box houses,
she ascended to a plastic throne.

The revolution from the sky
put the old world in a blackout
and she woke up as a princess,
surrounded by people in her service.

In her kingdom of the blind,
her single eye makes her queen
but she may still be a princess
if her mother is found alive.

The call to prayer
echoes in a stutter
against the rubble and ruin
with a bullet-fire chorus.

Her subjects are banished
and her beliefs are shattered.
She shuts her weeping eye
but there is little to pray for.

With three fingers and half a thumb
around a short wooden sceptre,
she thinks of her wealth:
the body under her paper tiara.