We ought to communicate.

THE HEDGEHOG BY POPPY HULBERT 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 132

There is a hedgehog stuck inside me.

Its spines, all seven thousand of them, prick me

and my whole body tenses up.

I have no defence.

In the past I numbed the pain

but we ought to communicate,

doesn’t mean to attack.

The hedgehog’s spines are vulnerability.

I would tell it to leave,

I’ve tried this and it doesn’t work.

The hedgehog has been in me for years.

It has something to say to me.

POPPY HULBERT

My poetry-writing began on the day I got clean and sober. I no longer had drugs and alcohol to keep me high and happy. I lay in bed for weeks in emotional turmoil. The only thing I could do was read and write poetry. My poems helped me to articulate my overwhelm and confusion. Writing the hedgehog poem gave me a self-awareness. It helped me to stay committed to a positive trajectory whilst suffering withdrawals. I was coming out of what was possibly the worst time of my life. The tone of my poetry became more hopeful. Poetry was constantly pouring out of me during this time and writing was the only thing that brought me any joy. I am amazed that over the course of two months I wrote more than 120 poems.