A keyhole appeared in my skin

no key to fit it

but it unlocks with a word

an open hand

or just the tip of the nib

of a certain pen.

Sometimes it leads to a garden

sometimes a vein

a sheer drop through ink and blood.

Other times it’s closed up tight

like a flower in darkness

an eye pressed against it

watching my body write itself

from the inside out.

Rachel Playforth lives in Lewes and works as a medical librarian. She is also an editor and compiler of cryptic crosswords. Her poems have been published in magazines including Envoi, Finished Creatures and The High Window, and have been widely anthologised. She is part of the editorial team for The Frogmore Papers and Unch magazine.

Poem selected by Jeremy Page, editor of quarterly literary magazine The Frogmore Papers. frogmorepress.co.uk