Eleanor Holmes
take the most delicate
arrangement of atoms,
rinse with a red sock.
people are fascinating,
but that’s not why
you got into this.
the skin eventually hardens.
hold the hurt, close,
an egg in the mouth
of a hungry fox.
line your den with feathered
words. you will need them.
they are important,
like wine held to the lips
of barren women.
impossible to quench
an insatiable thirst,
but do it anyway.
shake out the rust-stained
duvet of life. hug your own
bundle of nerves. swaddled tight,
break a knot of bread
with childhood friends
remember who you are,
when no one normally dares.
—
Eleanor Holmes (previously writing as Eliot North) is an ND mother-doctor-writer of poetry & prose. She lives in Valencian Country, Spain, and works as a hybrid GP for the NHS in Weston-super-mare. National Poetry Competition and Hippocrates Prize -commended in 2014, Pushcart-nominated in 2020, and shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize in 2025, she has been published widely. In 2025, her work appeared in Kaleidoscopic Minds Volume II, Write Out Loud 20th Anniversary Anthology, and Alchemy Spoon.