Sue Watling

Walking with ghosts

                walk

                                            walk

walk

               across the escarpment,

               below winter skies,

               the wind a wall

               to fight through,

               wild without

                         wild within,

​

               he returns in dreams,

               brings feathers, rings,

               look,               here,

               soot pestled with ashes,

               scars, spiralled to serpents,

               winding across his skin,

​

               I was there, cutting with flint,

               wherever he goes,

               he takes the mark of my fingers,

​

walk

                   wild                                                                                                              wild

                                     walk

               tilt of wind-bent trees,

               rippled tarn,

                         all remind me again,

               how it feels

               to walk with ghosts.

Sue Watling is a writer and poet living near the north bank of the River Humber. Since the summer she has had poems accepted by The Adriatic, Seaborne Magazine, Tide Rises, Amethyst Review, Visual Verse, DawnTreader, Saravasti, Spelt Magazine, the High Wolds Poetry Festival and have contributed to the Women of Words and Away with Words open mic events. A performance of ‘Thetis’, her poetic narrative retelling the Trojan War through the eyes of the mother of Achilles, was cancelled due to Covid-19, but this Rotunda Nights event in Scarborough is currently being rescheduled for 2021. She is a beekeeper and writes a Blog for her local Beekeeping Association alongside having a series of articles appearing in the British Beekeeping Association News next year.