Poem starting with a line from Fleur Adcock’s ‘An April Bat’
(In memory of Rosemary Mitchell)
‘Birds, we used to send each other:
A woodpecker, a jay…’
From the place where you are now
you’ve sent this little owl
whose home we trespassed in, on moorland walks.
We’d sit on benches in the shooters’ hut.
avoiding rorscharch splat of droppings;
drink coffee from a flask and speculate
about who slept above our heads.
There’s mystery about where you are now,
the week after your funeral, but here he is,
an avian epiphany, perched on the gate,
inviting me to crush the shocking pain,
and unexpected loss in pellets of
extruded waste, as he does, and to share
the view of his domain of sunlit hills.
Sandalwood Rose Poetry Reed Diffuser by Hannah Stone
Hannah Stone is a poet and editor from England. She has published over 450 poems in books and journals, and collaborates with artists and composers and curates literary events.
