| Poem Today we haven't stopped to think, much less take notes. Walking the South Bay after an early breakfast, stroking the circling rays in the Sea Life Centre despite the signs asking us not to, catching the castle before early closing. Then on the north promenade two turnstones tame enough to feed by hand, whatever the book says, and the last of the light in the winter gardens. The thin walls in the Granby Hotel admit the Geordie voices of builders who will beat us to the hot water yet neither of us can make out the sound of the sea. But when at four-thirty, you gather yourself to me, precisely, we are both awake to something growing out of season. And to think we used to long for the kind of life they're making poems from. Matt Merritt |
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Making The Most Of The Light (HappenStance, 2005) is the debut chapbook by Matt Merritt. He has been widely published in British and US magazines and anthologies, including Magma, Dream Catcher, Other Poetry, Quattrocento, Poetry Nottingham, Boxcar Poetry Review and Umbrella, and was the winner of the 2004 Plough Prize. His poetry blog, Polyolbion, can be found at: http://polyolbion.blogspot.com/ He lives near Leicester, England, and works as a journalist for Bird Watching magazine. The chapbook costs £3 and can be bought from HappenStance. It is also available direct from the poet, at: 37 Church Lane, Whitwick, Leicester, LE67 5DN |
