To Go Wading by Louise Mather

Colossus vessels gazing without oars
over green-lit stencilled exiles

further from the sun
the cliff’s furrow

crowns birthing rockpools
nests of salt prisms

willow tendrils and hammered jade florets
struck with kindling and dew

to go wading
we cannot move through

mesmeric beauty
to craft apothecary by camphor

I wanted to show you
everything

your taupe eyes
drowning sea-kelp volts

we are being stitched back to our insides
with swallocky cat’s paw

I do not want you to think this world
is made from fear and sadness for hatred and shame

demons with oil in their guts
hypocrisy on their myopic tongues

when they socket their teeth
spilling red

Louise Mather is a writer and poet from England. You can find her on Twitter @lm2020uk and her work/upcoming work in Versification, Streetcake Magazine and The Cabinet of Heed