i
dark sky
darker sands to circum-
ambulate the island sets
the compass points spinning catches
the Massacre Cave the standing stone
off-guard they scamper ahead of me
to their places
ii
gewgaws of island
kingdoms a necklace with no chain
a god’s dowry scattered the water-
colourist’s palette greens purples
browns upended veining
the burns sprouting
a rainbow from the tap
iii
millstone of the centuries
turning improvident demons
of cloud draw blood from the peaks
the edge of the candlelight too is jagged
my bothy’s welcome shall be defenceless
only the boarded-up house
locks its door
iv
select aperture
select brightness and contrast
each morning the neighbouring island
presses its face to the window
each afternoon the ferry lowers
its tongue to the pier
a cow at a salt-lick
v
arrowheads of gull-
prints fallen in showers
have been discovered since
the last tide excavations
continue the sands’ archive
of forgetting remembers all
my forgetting
vi
storm-felled trees
our shelter capsized hulls
by the pier my life-raft
a curse blows me here and drives
us hence my birthright island
roots me in earth my feet
have yet to touch
vii
my bothy
has no mirror the curse
is incomplete so long as I cannot
see my face a few poor whimpers
escape us lose themselves
in what the sand sings and
singsand singsand
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