Poetry Review: Writing Ground
She is white, wet, naked,
beautiful as needs be,
in the deep shadows of
Crichope’s ravine, she slides
in and out of vision.
Movement so fleeting
it might be a reed rustling,
her river-weed hair floats
among leaf-fall and bubbles,
she waits as she always has,
keeper of the running water.
But Naiads and rivers change little,
scooped out rock, pebble swirled,
swollen from winter rainstorms,
all there is to show for great age.
She knows every course it may take,
every pool that overflows to thin rivulets,
over ferns and moss, every new flow.
Her winter garden is decorated with
bright wrappings of crisp packets,
aluminium keys gleaming among ferns.
She must always make the best of it.
You can read Writing Ground at the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DT. tel: 0131-557 2876, e-mail [email protected] or see www.spl.org.uk. To buy the pamphlet from Vivien Jones contact the SPL.