A hunger
It's as if some truth's been missed, hidden
in particles of gabbro or the black plug of basalt;
or there's a thought I can't find, an absence
like deer beyond the next hill,
tracks in the peat the only clue.
It leaves me hungry, eager to dig down,
bury my face in soil, rub grit in my brain
till it bleeds insight. Old penitents
would flog themselves, the sugars
in the blood inducing trance.
I want to come back from a new idea
changed, the balance tipped and equilibrium
found again but this time with a slight quiver
as if some aftershock still rumbled on,
as if there was no time left and it didn't matter.
The sea moves, rock weathers, flowers
– tormentil, orchid, eyebright –
shake in the wind whether or not we name them.
in particles of gabbro or the black plug of basalt;
or there's a thought I can't find, an absence
like deer beyond the next hill,
tracks in the peat the only clue.
It leaves me hungry, eager to dig down,
bury my face in soil, rub grit in my brain
till it bleeds insight. Old penitents
would flog themselves, the sugars
in the blood inducing trance.
I want to come back from a new idea
changed, the balance tipped and equilibrium
found again but this time with a slight quiver
as if some aftershock still rumbled on,
as if there was no time left and it didn't matter.
The sea moves, rock weathers, flowers
– tormentil, orchid, eyebright –
shake in the wind whether or not we name them.
Page(s) 21
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The