North Berwick Law
Climbing the volcano’s
Constipated gut, a basalt core
That still resists the everyday
Seduction of the rain
Smoothing and dissolving.
Half-way up asking
Why are we doing this?
Our feet slide on
Liquorish-drop rabbit turds
The path decays into
Featureless grass.
As if from the top
We could see our lives: whole.
Ruth Aylett has been writing poems and short stories for many years but is fairly new to publication. She lives in Edinburgh where she teaches university-level computing, thinks another world is possible and that the one we have is due some changes. For more on her writing see here.