CLOUDSCAPES

by Robin Boothroyd

As we come to the end of 2011 I’ve been looking back at this year’s crop of poems to try to take stock of my achievements. One of my (many) aims was to write a poem–gift for some of my closest friends. I managed three, for which I’ll give myself a B-. This one I’m particularly proud of, and I think it the best poem I’ve written this year. It’s for my friend Natasha who likes clouds and is a potter – the cloudspotter.

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‘Cloudscapes’

for Natasha Peach

I

Flux

Lavish daydreams of clouds
advance and recede
faces
in a quickening crowd
see the shapes
shift
this seahorse
now horseshoe

II

Billowing textures

Bright plumes
up there
on the spindle of the sky
unfurl
reconvene
again unfurl
such whiteness
so weightless

III

The cloudspotter

She looks up in awe
an echelon of clouds
jostles for position
ever-fluid
a puzzle for the eye
O
the contours
she looks up in awe

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You can visit Natasha’s eclectic blog here for, amongst other things, the genius (and never weekly) Squirrel of the Week feature.

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