{"id":1312,"date":"2008-07-21T15:09:48","date_gmt":"2008-07-21T15:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1312"},"modified":"2008-07-21T15:09:48","modified_gmt":"2008-07-21T15:09:48","slug":"vanessa-gebbie-is-watching-the-reeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/vanessa-gebbie-is-watching-the-reeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanessa Gebbie is watching the reeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

REED<\/span>


There are babies growing in the reed beds again. <\/span>
They grow in cocoons like the nests of harvest mice, <\/span>
a little looser in the weave.<\/span>
 <\/span>
The cocoons have been swelling since the spring; <\/span>
the first frosts have come and gone but the cold will be back.<\/span>
 <\/span>
I feel it on the wind.<\/span>
 <\/span>
The welcome boards at nature reserves <\/span>
have posters attached, headed \u2018Advice\u2019. <\/span>
Should you stray off the path, <\/span>
do not make eye contact with the foetuses.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Of course, I\u2019m still walking there. <\/span>
I did yesterday. <\/span>
I stopped a while in one of the hides.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Many cocoons had burst; the air filled with thistledown. <\/span>
Below me, the water was as still as glass. <\/span>
And under the water, babies. <\/span>
Curled up tight, thumbs in mouths, <\/span>
floating under the surface, turning lazily as though breathed on by an unseen current.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Then I strayed from the path.<\/span>
 <\/span>
A cocoon was bursting. <\/span>
A male child grasped a reed with one fist. <\/span>
Crying, a high sound. <\/span>
Below him, the water.<\/span>
 <\/span>
Waiting.<\/span>
 <\/span>
I\u2019m far, far too old for this. <\/span>
But it is done; <\/span>
I did not let him drop. <\/span>
I put him under my jacket, <\/span>
naked against my skin.<\/span>
 <\/span>
And on the way home, I sang.<\/span>



\u2022 Vanessa Gebbie's debut collection of short fiction is longlisted for the Frank O'Connor Award.<\/span>
<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REEDThere are babies growing in the reed beds again. They grow in cocoons like the nests of harvest mice, a little looser in the weave. The cocoons have been swelling since the spring; the first frosts have come and gone but the cold will be back. I feel it on the wind. The welcome boards at nature reserves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}