Iris Among the Lilies
‘The October water is like glass and scarcely flows.’*
Iris Murdoch, ‘October’.
A clumsy plunge – this quiet river pool
tasting of weed and wild fowl
the green water hazy with algae.
Her unwieldy body sinking towards
the roots of bullrushes and yellow flags
where – weightless and free – she turns
and glides – a tropic manatee
surfacing under the lily pads
– Nymphaea Alba, native species –
pausing to take a breath, whooping at the cold
but feeling more alive and sentient
here than anywhere.
Kathleen Jones lives in a frequently flooded water mill in the Lake District. Perhaps this is why she called her fourth collection The Rainmaker’s Wife– published last month with Indigo Dreams. kathleenjonesauthor.blogspot.co.uk
[* from The River’s Voice, ed A.King and S. Clifford, Green Books Ltd, 2000.]
Grass of Freedom
I’m in a cave
of my own making
there are attempts
at décor:
crude drawings
in blood and chalk
The beautiful family
I’ve gone out
of my way to raise
are in another country
tending cattle.
While I’m here
beside a pathetic fire
of my own making
subsisting on handfuls
of grass. It’s delicious.
Sophie Herxheimer is an artist and poet. Her new book is called Velkom to Inklandt. Her work has appeared in Long Poem Magazine, Tears in the Fence, Poetry Wales, and been shown at the Poetry Library and the National Portrait Gallery. She has held residencies for London International Festival of Theatre, the Museum of Liverpool and many others. www.sophieherxheimer.com
The Three Little Words
I nearly didn’t say them at all;
as it was I waited till the end,
till you were unconscious.
After I’d said them
I grew bolder, safer,
free to say anything I wanted.
Carole Bromley has three collections with Smith/Doorstop, the most recent being a collection of poems for children, Blast Off! which was published in July 2017 www.carolebromleypoetry.co.uk Twitter Carole Bromley1