Margot Myers
He might have slept a hundred years, to wake bareheaded, roll-up warm against his palm, as if the curse that sent them back to war had been a dream – and here another spit and polish day of buckled brass, of shining chestnut boots, the station concourse bright with rain, of stainless benches, orderly trees, the khaki boys at ease and soft like windfalls on the path – as if the sergeant’s restless ringing heel won’t put their teeth on edge, the gaping bin that stands as sentinel won’t mirror back a nervous sky; as if there is no pounding in his chest, tight-webbed across the heart.
Margot Myers lives in Oxford, and has been writing poetry for four years. She has been placed or shortlisted for several competitions including Havant Poetry Competition, Bridport Flash Fiction Competition, and Cinnamon Mini-competitions. She has poems in the Emma Press Anthology of Dance, and The Emma Press Urban Myths and Legends.
“For Sally Flint’s ekphrasis course, I chose this image, from Jeremy Deller’s Somme Commemoration centenary project. It appeals because it is both poignant and uncanny in its simultaneous evocation of past, present and future. Sally’s ekphrasis course encouraged us to go beyond the descriptive, and the fairy-tale allusion helped this. My main problem was finding a form, but once I had decided on a prose poem, it came quite easily.”
Beautiful and poignant poem,Margot,I’m so pleased to see it here.
Thank you Sheila, and I think those words apply to your poem ‘Lotus Feet’ too. It’s lovely to read it in its final form.
Thank you so much Margot, I’ve only just found this comment or I would have replied earlier.