Confluence
Stour springs from greensand into lakes marbled with lily-pads
hosts to hazes of dragonflies & pseudo-Roman reflections
glides sixty-one miles seaward past the rare Black Poplar
meanders through chalk clay heathland
overtakes railways trailways bridges pylons rookeries
otters pipistrelles the Blandford Fly
applies names East & West Stour Stourpaine Stourton Caundle
Stour Row & Stour Provost Sturminsters Newton & Marshall
hovers at turn of tide deep still mirror-smooth
where contraband echoes a Norman twang
sneaking upstream past the Avon merge
from Stanpit Marsh to Fiddleford Mill
Avon hits town where mediaeval cutwaters slice divisions
tongue it various from burr to babel swish to swirl
rushes between buttresses plaits threads of currents
where swans lord-and-lady-it along the centre
trips over own flow with
fish-out-of-water flash salmon’s silver high-jump
mallards dabble in shallows shadowed by willows
until mill race powers beyond the Domesday Book
grinding monks’ corn & fulling mercers’ cloth until
the Stour merge
then slide as one to Mudeford
beneath dinghies moored on buoys in the harbour portus port
& children dip lines from the Quay to collect crabs beside The Haven Inn
site of Smuggler Coombes’ gibbeted corpse
opposite the Spit where Saxons watch for invaders
and barbecues smoke into blue-and-green beach-huts
while chatter is new traffic traders drownings plagues
tales of tall white cruise liners stranded in the bay
water reflects light above tangled fishing lines & plastic debris
its surface always movement textured by the colour of sky
Lesley Burt’s poetry has appeared in various print & online magazines over the years. Her pamphlet, Mr & Mrs Andrews Reframed, was published by Templar Poetry in 2023 – https://templarpoetry.com/