BlackworkA type of embroidery which dates from the sixteenth centuryA broken heartBackstitched on a linen sleeve in black;The dye corroded, like my love, the threads Which held us worn away. You...

1BrenhildaThe river-sun whitens the birch wood trunks.
I lie as foreign as coloured glass amidst the mossy greens,
shadows of birds flying across my skin.
Shushing leaves fill the sky with the rush...

Shoeboxes  One day my father gave me an empty shoebox. “That’s love,” he said and I said, “Thanks, Dad,” and immediately went away to look for secret compartments. Finding none and being unable...

PrescriptionI’m recommending Heartsease to stillthe tear that rolls,the brain that churns,the springing cry in the chest that waitsas if in ambush.If the Furies have your scentyou must need mercy -...

Letter to Suicide (an old friend)We go way back. And if I remember correctly, it was you who followed me home that night in cold April. The frost covered the half-sprung tulips; I laughed at their...

Still Bird on Goose Islandthe remains of a picnicin advance of refreshment“when you’re young and in love”arrives         as it did last yearPhoto: the...

PrimaveraMy favourite tea shop girlHas a hooked nose, a dirty laughI'm trying to fathom HeideggerWhat is is?The butter-split cherry sconeSugar-dustedLater sitting with peach iced teaEyeing legs,...

BroodThe pigeon is nesting in the hawthorn.If I lift my eyes from the lap top screenI can see her sitting on a mess of sticks.She watches me closely, cocks her head,as if the sound of the keys were...

OakIt was as if we had ensnared ourselves:the way your little boy handspushed the acorn into the soft loamand your face looked up to minewith the unspoken question.And later a green fingerpushed...