Coast
Whenever you have trouble sleeping
Find yourself a room near water
Give it white walls, an open window
Make it high on a purpled cliff
Facing an island abandoned to birds
With the sea below, gnawing and roaring
At its topnote of shimmering foil.
Have it circled by the breathing dark
Of trees, dropping leaves, whispers
Of comfort, landing lightly –
Let yourself hear that nothing matters
Now but sleep, the world is space
Your order lasix no prescription presence in it, rippling, falling
And maybe somewhere a bird will sing
And you won’t hear the end of its song.
Olivia McCannon was born on Merseyside and is based in Harlesden, London and Belleville, Paris. Her poetry collection Exactly My Own Length (Carcanet/Oxford Poets) and her translation of Balzac’s Old Man Goriot (Penguin Classics) were published in 2011.