Annie Rew Shaw

Art credit by Caitlin Fooks

As well as being a poet, Annie Rew Shaw is also an excellent illustrator, songwriter and singer. She records under the name Austel and was recently featured on BBC Music Introducing. The poem here, The yo-yo, is featured as part of a beautiful track on Austel’s debut EP ‘Unfold’ entitled, ‘Crows’.

 

Up and down. High and low

 

It’s fucking relentless

 

Let me stay in one place, centralise,

just for a moment, please

 

A chance to catch my breath

 

It falls down, gravity sucking it, like some

huge vacuum in my stomach

gut

feet melt through the floor

I hibernate beneath the cold earth, slowly numb

a sleeping ghost

 

Then, like elastic, a huge force propels me up

and I’m floating, flying, it’s brilliant but reckless

because I’ve nothing to hold on to

– no wings, no craft – just me –

and then I’m free-falling 

 

The wind catches my fragile, movable body

and throws it around like a dead leaf

Its inevitable destination though,

is the ground

Annie Rew Shaw

Annie is a musician, artist and writer from Devon, now based in North London. She performs and releases music under the moniker Austel.

Her poetry, illustrations and music serve as a cathartic outlet; depicting the vivid physical and verbal imagery that we can use to articulate mental health and human emotion.

Caitlin Fooks

Caitlin is currently studying cognitive science at Edinburgh University. She is passionate about understanding the human mind, and spreading that understanding to counteract misconceptions most people hold about their own minds. When she’s not at uni she can be found swing dancing, drawing, writing, reading and watching endless movies.