Brigid’s Land Grab
A white cloak that folds like a shopping bag,
like a Pac-a-mac with pagan overtones,
much larger when unfolded than a pocket,
a TARDIS of a cloak.
And when she threw it, opened it up,
it kept unfurling, a flag for all the earth
until air made way and it settled
over acres of good land.
‘That was sneaky,’ said the king,
turning to the woman on the other horse,
‘but I will give you what I promised’.
They rode on over snowdrops, so many snowdrops.
Simon Williams (www.simonwilliams.info) has been writing since his teens, when he was mentored at university by Roger McGough and Pete Morgan. His first collection was published in 1981. Since then, he has had eight further books and his 10th, The Pickers and Other Tales, from Vole, was published in February 2024. Simon was elected The Bard of Exeter in 2013.