Maxine Rose Munro is a Shetlander adrift on the outskirts of Glasgow. After spending the first eighteen years of her life exclusively on the islands, without even a small break for the holidays, the culture shock experienced on eventually seeing the wider world rocked her to the core, and is still rocking now. However, as the end result appears to be poetry, she’s fairly ok with this. Her poetry has been widely published both in print and online, exhibited at Stanza Poetry Festival, shortlisted for the SMHAFF Awards, and nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. www.maxinerosemunro.com
Before the rockslide, 1982
That was the last summer at the stickleback pool.
The last hike with a packed bag and a book,
to lie full length and gaze up at a haphazard
jenga-stack cliff face, sandstone slanted
in sheets that sheared off so easy.
The last time to wear the seventies swimsuit
with tiny flowers picked out in bri-nylon purple,
orange and pink, slip in with the glitter fish
and soft green weed, in water warmer
and deeper than any bath could be.
To follow the slow winkle’s twirly squiggle
though crevices and cracks, lazily eye dampened
paperback as loud seagulls cried and fought
in white-clouded skies above. The last
summer that lasted forever.
Maxine Rose Munro