Winter at Daniel’s Hole
We camped there in summer evening heat;
tents pitched on tinder-dry grass,
while we cooked meat and grain,
tore bread to wipe our wooden bowls,
to fill our bellies for sleep.
But winter is all box-shine,
glow-forth and ice-glint,
and ice net-curtains the pond,
tinsels the grass, hardens the mud track
down to Daniel’s Hole
where a boy once drowned:
sunk suddenly without a trace,
the blonde of his hair disappearing swiftly,
like birthing sped up and in reverse.
I imagine he’s still there beneath the ice,
the sparkle of frost lighting up his face.
Julia Webb has a BA in Creative Writing from Norwich University College of the Arts and an MA in poetry from The University of East Anglia. She was the winner of The 2011 National Poetry Society Stanza competition. She lives in Norwich where she teaches creative writing and runs The Norwich Poetry Book Group. She is a regular reviewer for IS&T.