Janette Ayachi

Born in London to an Algerian father and a Scottish mother, Janette Ayachi is an Edinburgh-based poet who graduated from Stirling University with a combined BA Honours in English Literature and Film Studies and an MSc in Creative Writing from Edinburgh University. She has been published in over 50 literary international journals and anthologies. She is the author of the poetry collections Pauses at Zebra Crossings and A Choir of Ghosts.

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Hiatus

I found returning your library books
the love letters you never sent

confessing desire for the girl
who cried the most at your funeral.

If you could hear me I would ask
what it is like in heaven,

I know you are watching the world
as you would watch a soap opera,

flicking through the channels of countries
to whatever suits your mood.

So I wonder how you are now
being spirit instead of body

now that weightlessness
has surpassed your waking state.

I battled for your survival
and tried to keep you breathing.

I held your hand until it filled with helium
and almost took me with you.

'Hiatus' from A Choir of Ghosts © Janette Ayachi. Reprinted by kind permission of the author and Calder Wood press, 2013.

Watch Janette Ayachi read and talk about her poetry.

Neu! Reekie! #39 : Janette Ayachi from arts-news on Vimeo.

Listen to Janette Ayachi read her BTFTLT poem 'Airports'.

Listen to Janette Ayachi read her BTFTLT poem 'Haitus'.

Listen to Janette Ayachi read her BTFTLT poem 'The Annabel Chong Film'.