Helen Bowell
I wouldn’t want to be murdered around here
Neither would I
He’s such a nice guy, you’d never suspect it
I didn’t realise you were that close
I’m trying to gauge what the consensus is
It’s another bloody layer to unpick and I’m not very good at unpicking them
What is frustrating to me is like I know who I am
The hardest thing I’m doing is this Welsh accent
We learned from Anna about the death match
There’s like a coffin
They’re actually in a coffin
She was actually shaking and I did feel a bit bad but not too much
I can see a lake
I can see a lake
I cannot believe there’s a person in this coffin in this lake
I just ran to the lake
I was in the most vulnerable footwear
Snakeskin slingbacks
I was slightly suspicious how at ease he was after jumping out of his coffin in the middle of the lake
There’s an element of dead man walking here
One of you will be killed
I really hope you like Columbo
Who’s saving me?
Who is keeping me here?
How have I not been murdered yet?
I don’t know why I’m here
I don’t even think I’m that good at this game
(a found poem after The Traitors, S03E07)
Helen Bowell‘s debut pamphlet The Barman (Bad Betty Press, 2022) was a Poetry Book Society Choice. She co-directs Dead [Women] Poets Society, edited the first anthology of bi+ poets, Bi+ Lines (fourteen poems, 2023), and produced the Poetry Translation Centre’s 20th birthday programme of events in 2024.
andotherpoems.com 