Clankers
by and published in Edition Two of Pomegranate
Last year’s little pilgrims
Shell shooters
Were crisp to the tooth
Bathed in orange juice and sake
We plunged our hands into the ice-cube basket
Until the feeling shrank from our fingertips,
And scooped their silver-grey matter out,
Iridescent with thoughts
Now my lips round the mouth-watering months
Containing an ‘r’ and I pluck and hold you
In my meaty palms
Then sand of ages tumbles out
And open and empty and black as ebony
Castanets, clack a deadened tune.
Laura Marsh
Laura Marsh is articles submissions editor. She was a Foyle Young Poet in 2005 and 2006, and was a runner-up in the Christopher Tower and a winner of the Rialto Young Poets competition both in 2007. She is currently in her third year at Oxford University, where she is reading English. She enjoys near-infallible lack of hand-eye coordination, Patrick Hamilton novels and very long walks in the countryside.