Smothered
By Mahalia Charlotte
Published 20 November 2025
The women in our family hold our trauma in our spines.
Backs bodies breaking under burdens; matrilineal line of
heightened hysterical hyper-aroused harpies.
We claw at sleep, flapping;
thundering hearts, aching sacrums -
I pine for whispered words and to drift off painlessly.
Hear these women wail.
Bruised and bloody banshees
in their birthing suites.
Hear them divine the oncoming storm.
My grandmother tells me she can feel the rain in her joints.
See her kneel into garden beds -
soft worn hands dig through brown dough, knead out mud pies.
Sip brewed leaves from porcelain; dash with scotch.
Hold back waves of pain, nervous tissue tied up in knots -
tide slowly creeping in, crashing against teacup bones.
She scatters seeds; descendants like dust.
Heavens open sky fall down pour -
taste my tears as they run down my face.
Bite the apples of my cheeks
until you rip the flesh from my bones.
We do not have faces -
not anymore.
Mirrors and stories;
northern blood liquid lips drinking in
hours lost in written words.
The folds in our eyelids reflecting grey skylines,
crooked teeth bent straight.
Open wide
Peel back muscle to find -
babushka doll wombs.
A little girl crying inside;
crying out for her mother to love her.
Her mother loves her -
but her mother is also reaching back behind herself, within herself;
wishing her own would be here, against her, around her
so she could rest
her weary, worried vertebrae.
Hear them crack -
lightning.
Mahalia's poem was selected from over 3,000 poems submitted during Poetry Month in August 2025, as part of our 30in30 Writing Competition.
Every day across Poetry Month, we publish a new writing prompt linked to our 30in30 Commissioned Poems for poets to respond to. Thanks to our generous partner, Dymocks Books, daily winners receive book prizes.
At the end of the month, we select three poets to develop their piece with us as a paid Red Room Poetry commission and receive a writer's pack from Dymocks.
Mahalia's poem was written in response to Nyaluak Leth's prompt:
Speak your truth as if it’s scripture. The mic is live, and the revolution is listening—what needs to be heard to set your spirit free?
This experience has provided a very new opportunity for me – and I can already tell my poetry has blossomed because of it. I have loved writing poetry for as long as I can remember. Even as a young child, I remember spouting sing-song stanzas to the ever-listening ever-greens. As a young adult, I wrote for various university publications. In the past year or so, my love has been reinvigorated. The 30in30 prompts really pushed me to think creatively and to sit with my art every day. I would encourage any writer to give it a go! I was so honoured to be chosen first for my prompt response and then as one of the lucky commissioned pieces. Working with the Red Room team was one of the first times I have had my poetry edited. I was so touched to have different people help mould my work, as well as having the work understood. It is such a gift to be heard. Thank you very much!
