Jinny's Freedom

In 2018, we commissioned 51 authors from 25 countries to write essays exploring ideas about freedom for The Freedom Papers, a publication produced in partnership with Gutter Magazine. Read on for Eloise Greenfield's poem, and visit guttermag.co.uk to purchase a copy of The Freedom Papers.

A few years now
since Freedom,
and Jinny is happy
much of the time,
married to a good man
who loves her,
hears herself laughing
now and then.
But when will the other
freedoms come?
Freedom from missing her sister,
freedom from the nightmares
of hate-filled faces that haunt her
some nights, making her
wail in her sleep
until her husband holds her
and gently kisses her awake.
When, she wonders,
will the rest of her
freedoms come?

Copyright © 2018, Eloise Greenfield. All rights reserved.

Supported by the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund through Creative Scotland.