The Saltees

May has flung wild fistfuls
of bluebells azuring the leeward slope.
On the wilder edge rocks glisten ochre
and palest silver.

Here, gannets glide
past a high sun, their stiff wingspan
filtering light whiter than fine organdie
veiling muscle of their bullet flight.

Invaders on this sanctuary,
we adjust our lenses, greedy to observe.
I almost feel the silky warmth
of gannets' yellow heads.

You stroke my face with a feather
later saved between the pages
of my bird book. I pick a sea campion
to press its papery bloom,

but falter at the sappy stem
of bluebell bowed in a breeze
whispery as the sigh of vespers
just before the evening ferry sails.

^

Biography

Born Dublin, early childhood spent in Co. Wicklow. Her work including poetry, short stories and articles has appeared in various magazines and journals in Ireland, England, USA. Has won some poetry awards including first prize at Boyle 1997 and joint first - Riposte poem of the year 1998, and most recently Quantum Leap Five by Five. Her collection Bone and Petals is due to be published in 2001