Gennna Gardini
I wake up and there is a woman at the foot of my bed, waiting. I blink and she is gone. Do you believe in ghosts? you’ll ask. I believe in everything. Once, someone pointed to a badge on my fanny-pack and whispered it was haunted. Once, someone told me my soul is so old that, if I wanted, I could finally transcend. Once, someone said that what I’m waiting for is actually waiting for me. As I grow older, I see that I can’t escape myself. This is a gift. I was raised in a blood cult. You must understand that the first thing I learned is that I killed a man. I always read spoilers for everything that I watch because, as a woman, I’m wary of surprises, and because, as a poet, I do not value plot. If I could, I’d google Dream I had with ghost ending explained but sleep, like belief, doesn’t work that way.
Genna Gardini has a PhD in Drama from Queen Mary University. She won the 2020 CASA award for playwriting, was shortlisted for the 2021 Short Story Day Africa prize, and her poetry collection Matric Rage received a commendation for the Ingrid Jonker prize.
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