Charles Bennett
Swimming Over London
A woman is swimming over London,
a fox turns up his face to see her pass.
There are blackbirds in the sleeping streets,
a pear tree luminous with blossom.
It’s the dream she always has,
the dream where she’s stretching out
until all the houses are gone
and the fields give way to a beach
where the yacht that’s moored in the bay
has a light in its cabin window.
She smiles and swims over London,
darkness swaying her hair.
Charles Bennett was born in the North West of England and completed a doctorate in Irish Poetry at London University. He has published three chapbooks and a collection Wintergreen (Headland 2002). His second collection, How to Make a Woman Out of Water, is due from Enitharmon in 2007. He lives in Herefordshire where he is Director of Ledbury Poetry Festival.
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