Sarah Westcott is a freelance writer and former journalist, currently working as a poetry tutor at City Lit in London. Her first collection Slant Light, published by Pavilion Poetry, was Highly Commended in the 2017 Forward Prizes and she is working very slowly towards her next book. Her pamphlet Inklings was a Poetry Book Society choice. Her poems have appeared in magazines including Poetry Review, POEM and Magma, on beermats, billboards and the side of buses, and in anthologies including Best British Poetry. Recent awards are first prize in the London Magazine poetry prize and the Manchester Cathedral poetry prize. Sarah grew up in north Devon, on the edge of Exmoor, and lives in Kent with her family.
Filthy Little Stream
water~ ~~~~~~~~ needling
some reach towards majesty
frivolity of bubbles chemical sickness
long wet vocal cord opening —
smoother the lee; curling under tree roots, undermining,
something thrown down
to glint its way out
some formality in the stitch-work
turning itself over, like digestion,
inspecting its soft under-parts
a sputtering flow brick–jagged
unloved and unlocked this segment
rolls and pools where drains run in like sores
dark grey dark grey as tarmac or slate
a narrative of itself in the junking
some faith in the blackthorn
that strays so close,
the darkling thrush gunning for song –
Sarah Westcott
