like pearl she curl round swollen belly ballbearing like hungry tooth of grapeshot spoilt stubborn to extract, knots of spine coiled like cat o’ nine tails round fist gnawed to knuckle like blister boil necklace caught round throat, choke, her Adam’s apple, pits of pupils blood sore like angry husks of roasted nuts like eyelids shut tight i harden like wound, round and smooth suddenly exposed like flesh sprung open like oyster by knife and glistening still alive sweet wait to be cut free like chicken-foetus.