Movement in February
The bluetit briefly bows his head
In the shallow end of the dark, melted pond
To drink –
And on leafless trees
The finches flit from pink bud to brown branch,
Hungrily.
The new world has opened
An invisible eggshell fracture
For the small birds –
Letting only them in to taste.
We are still wading through Winter,
Tears of the season on our cheeks,
Watching the birds
For change.
Joining the water birds
I wait
To grace the wild waters
Where geese glide under trees
And small fish hide from shadows.
I imagine the Sun
Redeeming my cold limbs
As I swim without any ceiling
Feeling the air and light and liquid
The way other creatures know them.
I want to learn the history of the earth
By joining the water birds
In the place where buildings
Were never made –
Where mirrors are as
Soft as the sky.
LJ Ireton
LJ is a vegan poet and a bookseller from London. She has a 1st Class B.A. Honours in English Language and Literature from The University of Liverpool. Her poems have been published by numerous journals both in print and online, including: Minnow Literary, Green Ink Poetry, The Madrigal, Spellbinder Literary Magazine, Drawn to the Light, Acropolis Journal, Mausoleum Press, Cerasus Magazine and The Amphibian Literary Journal.
Her poetry features in the printed anthologies ‘Spectrum’ by Renard Press, published in October 2022 and the ‘York Literary Review’ 2023.
Her poetry will also feature in Poetry of the Wild Flowers anthology published by Tiny Seed Press in June 2023.
‘Joining the water birds’ was first published by Chasing Shadows Literary Magazine in June 2021.
These poems will be part of the forthcoming published collection ‘Lessons from the Sky‘ with Ellipsis imprints.
OSMOSIS PRESS 