The Great Escape - Bianca Grace

We lock your gastroparesis

in the Disney hotel room

you have spent a week

recovering in

after we arrive in Florida

to play at Animal Kingdom.

We run through the gates,

and fly through the sky

on the back of a banshee

to your freedom.

At the 3D bug film, 

you pretend vomiting

your entire existence

down to a skeleton

is less bloodcurdling

than the tarantula

reaching across

the room for your face.

When we arrive in Japan

I take the tubes 

from your backpack

that were the bullet train 

to your stomach

and place your camera inside. 

No longer is your five-foot-eight-inch

figure malnourished

but ravenous to take photos 

of the temples and shrines

in Tokyo.

I lug your equipment

around my shoulders

while you fill up

on your dreams

once dashed.

It's the lightest 

weight I will ever carry. 

When we land home 

in Australia

we arrive back to reality,

and realise we never left 

the four walls

of your lounge room

loaded with medications, 

feeds and a diary 

full of appointments.

But I will always travel

with you, hand in hand

to any challenge

you can’t muster 

the strength

to withstand alone.

Bio:

Bianca Grace is a poet living in Australia with drop bears hiding outside her house. She is also known for racing down the street with kangaroos. Her work has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, Selcouth Station, Capsule Stories, The Daily Drunk Mag, Postscript Magazine and elsewhere. Follow her on Twitter: @Biancagrace031