Thursday, July 8, 2010

Poetry

Good news on two counts:

Night Porter is a winner of the Templar Poetry Pamphlet and Collection competition 2010. It will be launched at the Derwent Poetry Festival 12 - 14 November. My first full collection Boxing the Compass will appear in 2011, also with Templar.

My poem 'Harvest' took first place in the Warminster Poem on a Postcard competition. It is based on a sculpture by Colin Lambert which marks the site of the largest mediaeval grain exchange on Salisbury Plain. The piece incorporates local lore of an annual harvest maiden seated atop a towering harvest, facing across the plain towards the Westbury Horse.

Many thanks to Jill Flanders for reading it on my behalf.















Harvest




Barefoot, all thighs and hips
she sits, arms behind her

atop bulging sacks
of grain.

Eyes closed, her body speaks
through absorbing rays.

We might notice how the top
bag is the greatest, and these nine pillows

that she perches insouciant
of any pea.

She crosses her ankles
as she surveys the hills

relishes this fertility
that lifts her above the paving,

enjoys her bearing,
though stationary –

the plain elevated,
weather scored into the sacks.

1 comment:

Carrie Etter said...

A lovely poem.