She was History by Clare Read

 

Clare Read is a writer of short stories and poems living in the East Midlands. She is a member of Marvellous Writers, a community writing group established in 2016. Her stories have been published in The Cabinet of Heed, Riggwelter and Reflex Fiction

 

 

      

She was History

 


 

She was history; old as stone.

Smoothed by changing tides,

Jewelled seaweed and wild foam.

Smashed against the ragged shore. Worn,

Battered, etched with lines and fissures; she

 

Drifted and flowed. She was history. The

Smoke from a damp bonfire; smudged and

Curling, into a weathered gloom.

Stratus, cirrocumulus, doused in darkness;

Unfettered amongst a rushing wind. She

 

Was history. A trickling brook. Red

Wellingtons wading. Moss slithered bank.

Nettles, bin bags and sofas; over stuffed

Carcasses floundering in the mud. Minows

Darting away from grubby hands. She was

 

History. Red tender glow. The fragile scent

Of tickseed, dahlia and marigold mingling

With burnt meat and charcoal. The nine pm

Light, muggy sweat between white sheets.

Endless. She was history.

Clare Read

 

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Poems