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


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