Flat Holm
Not the boring twin.
Not even benign.
This is a proper island:
rocks, foghorn, lighthouse.
Chinkle of footsteps
on slate roof fragments –
the detritus of war
and peacetime paranoia.
A glut of leadberries
at the defensive ditch:
juicy, black, off-limits,
poisoned by galena.
I’m here for the long haul;
I got a bit lost
and I found myself here,
like the rabbits and gulls.
Gordon Vells is a writer and translator from Dorset. His latest collection is Wasp Disentanglement for Beginners (Xenon Lobster Books, 2022), and he has recently had work published in two issues of Flights.
Website: www.xenonlobster.co.uk
X/Instagram: @xenonlobster