Cherry Doyle lives near Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. Her work has appeared in Ink, Sweat, and Tears, Presence, Southlight, and various anthologies. She has been shortlisted for the WoLF poetry competition and the Plough Prize. She is currently studying for an MFA in Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and her pamphlet, ‘September’, was published by Offa’s Press in 2019.
Buildwas
(after Li Po)
Sunlight glitters in the crosshatchings
of pheasant-coloured water,
on the uneasy tiles of the coaching inn,
draped in red Virginia.
A spill of claret stains the dogwood trees,
and the river’s casualties splashed on the road.
At my feet, a chestnut – split, egg-white,
a half moon is stamped on damson-blue sky.
When night comes, thistle-silk hardens
to steely burdock, clinging to ankles.
Jackdaws stop calling in the presbytery,
the hiss of pylons are ghostly choirs,
the river becomes ink, black like sloes,
poets get their feet wet, looking for the moon.
Cherry Doyle