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Former Faber editor, lives in Bath. Death of first son and diagnosis of her Parkinsons drew her to poetry. Published in magazines ranging from Acumen to Staple. She has two published collections from Belgrave Press: the now of snow (2004) and bowing to winter (2010).
after ‘Yellow Bird’, a pastel by Hugo Colville
Out of a hole in the man’s chest pops a bird.
In the sag of his torso there’s a hollow round the place
where smart surgeons have jig-sawed and cut away
so the tin man goes on ageing when rage bends him
squared in on himself, shoulder and elbow bent.
His cornered body, once upright and steel-strong,
now light with emptiness, is grown grey, suit-coloured,
its geometric planes drawn in pain.
Hunched, one-legged in his own shadow, he cranes
to the bird’s bright wink, chin pegged to his shoulder,
a thin cushion for the night when the flight
of the yellow bird is unseen so no-one knows where
it’s been till it opens its beak and speaks secrets ranging
beyond tears and grief to a comfort that’s strange as
a bird on the wing for a man clamped in a square tin can,
sealed in a vacuum.
first published in Equinox as ‘Post-Operative Man’;
published in collection bowing to winter, 2010
Publications:
bowing to winter, 2010, Belgrave Press, ISBN 978-0954621513, £7.99
the now of snow, 2004, Belgrave Press, ISBN 0-9546215-0-6, £7.99
First Sixty: The Acumen Anthology, 2010, Acumen Publications
Cracking On, 2010, Grey Hen Press
web-pages on poetry p f
e-mail
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