flood meadow
under a shallow sea
coral and ammonite
flickering blue sunlight
waves warm as blood
creature on creature
compressed in salt stillness
the weight of ice its rasp and drag
hoof and forest leathered foot. green wheat
a spring that seeps deep-fissure cool
May Days’ tossed charms
babbled prayers for love
and harvest gunshot
wires across the sky
silverweed and nettle
a circle of burned willow
under the jet plane’s roar
this thistle this dock leaf
this white butterfly
this wolf spider. scuttling
Spill
Human chains of green and orange slither
over the coated rocks, scoop up
the thickened sea. Eyes stinging,
they pass it bucket by bucket, hand
to hand to hand, coax it like dough
into plastic barrels. Elongating facts
form long slicks – there is no
impact on marine flora and fauna –
the fish is fit for consumption –
crabs feed on sunken tar-balls.
The fishing nets gum up. Refused
entry to the port, the ship is listing –
her hull gapes open like a rusty gill.
__________
Born in Hong Kong, Claire is Associate Editor for ignitionpress, and a research student at
Royal Holloway studying poetry and disaster. Her first pamphlet appears in Primers: Volume
Five (Nine Arches Press, 2020).
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