The Job Interview

By Mirvat Manal

Dear confidence, 
Standing before you is a seasoned Queen 
That has been sprinkled with hurt, resilience 
And with a doctorate in life’s losses and gains.
So please show up today.
I need this.
Help me blind the sniper resting on the roof of my mouth.
It has a mind of its own.
It takes aim at me moving forward,
But ceases fire when I retreat towards my bed.
I plead with you.
Help me suffocate its accomplice, the bastard called Doubt 
He indecisively trampolines from one end of my brain to the next.
Help me numb the nerves that pollute my clear speech with a stutter.
Sprinkle over me, that scent of optimism I always smell on you.

Mirvat Manal is a fiction writer and poet based in Manchester.  Her work has been published in The Leon Literary Review, Maudlin House and The Cabinet of Heed. Mirvat has also been included in Best New British & Irish Poets Anthology 2021.