This poem is one of a series of poems I wrote about several
paintings done by a friend.  Poems and paintings went on
exhibition at Southwell Minster.      

  THE ARTIST AND HER FISH

Fling the wide river of life right
around the world.
Fling it round.
Fill it with coral and weed,
Whales and whelks and beautiful fish,
Fill it with mollusc and minnows and those
pearly pink shells
You can hear the sound of the sea in.
Spill it onto the land.
Spill it over,
Swooning and singing with the voices of angels,
Or the roar of a giant,
Or the steady murmuring lisp of a baby falling asleep.
Fill it full.
Be bountiful.
Crab.  Lobster.  Cockles.  Flat fish.
Round fish.  Jelly fish.  Fish with square noses.
Sword fish.  Dog fish.  Cod fish
And my beautiful yellow fish.
Let them swim
In the wide river of life flung
around the world.                

                                                 © 2012 GWEN GRANT.       

    A reconstruction from bones believed
     to be Cleopatra’s sister, Arsinoe IV

IT’S A FAMILY THING

I have seen them
Down in the valleys,
Up on the meadows,
Carefully digging and sifting
For remnants of a past age and generation,
Finding beads, bits of gold, sometimes
                             bracelets and bones,
Always bones.

Here is my sister.
I can see her as she once was,
Clothed in skin and slender,
Lying in her bony shallows,
Where nothing much is left of her.
Yet I am glad they cover her
When it starts to rain.

For, in my mind, she stands before me,
Long and lovely, her smile dazzling,
Her elegant feet tapping against her grave.

Through the sound of raindrops
I can almost hear her whisper,
‘Welcome, my sister.’
As she stands on one side of her ancient
                                              death place
And I stand silently on the other,
Returning her greeting,
‘Welcome, my sister.’

Centuries apart, it’s a family thing.

                            © 2020 Gwen Grant