'Jesus Christ. Louise, You Shot Him', 'Complex' and 'Lighting Piece'
Poetry
by Katie Beswick
Jesus Christ. Louise, You Shot Him
You curled your hair; threw your husband’s
gun in your purse, applied lipstick,
zipped your overnight bag.
Out on the open road the concealed gun’s heat
burned; a compacted star
in the Arkansas dust.
Only the certainty of a bad man, or several of them.
You cross into freedom with the velocity
of a bullet.
No fucking with you now, wild lady
dirt brown & suddenly certain.
If he smacks your face
point the gun
& shoot.
Lighting Piece
After Yoko Ono
Turn on the overhead strip lights in the meeting room of an abandoned office block in any city you are passing through. Wait. Wait for as long as it takes for the lights to flicker. Switch the lights on, then immediately off again. Write a one word text message to your oldest friend describing how it feels to stand in the dark in this abandoned office block, in this city you are passing through. Send the message. Leave.
Complex
I’m complex
as entrails.
Hard to read.
Open me up
like a split frog
skin stretched
as the leather bound cover
of a magic book.
About the Author
Katie is a writer from south east London. Her most recent work has appeared in Dust Poetry Magazine, Ballast, Ink Sweat & Tears, The Citron Review and Roi Fainéant Press, among others. Her debut chapbook, Plumstead Pram Pushers, was published by Red Ogre Review in July 2025. In March 2024, her exhibition ‘Being Slaggy’ was a sellout feature of Camden People’s Theatre SPRINT Festival. She teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London.
About the Artist
Laura Jacquemond is an American writer and textile artist who lives in France. Her stories have been published in anthologies by Comma Press and Wicked Shadow Press. She has a flash story forthcoming in Flash Fiction Magazine. After earning an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Hull, she began another MA in writing for young people at Bath Spa University and is working on her first YA novel. Laura’s website is http://blueterracotta.com/.