Fret
Soft droplets form on protrusions
Floating legs in front
A saline nest laps around
flesh traps underneath
Only a few feet are visible
creeping, fogging our possibility
Steam could rise from skin
but here only unease is let in
A mouldering of moisture
Niff of bladder wrack, your muscle.
Lips form an O in anticipation
Holding the silence is portentous
until the wave hits or the shark bites
On the surface travels a sound
from a distant ship made weird
Occasionally it looms beyond our feet
a dominating shadow, my island mound.
The salt nest breaks up as gulls
speak ‘spil her’ into the water
N.B. The Dutch to English translation of ‘Spil her’ is ‘play here’
Challenger is a multi-disciplinary artist. Her film ‘Fret’ was a Women in Word Lit Fest official selection 2024. Poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Anthropocene Poetry Journal and Osmosis Press.
She’s the associate artist at Beaconsfield Gallery, Vauxhall. @tamsyn_challenger