May 2022 - Chris Cowiti
The Stirling Makar, Laura Fyfe, has chosen the poem ‘At Sherrifmuir’ to feature as the Poem of the Month for May 2022.
Chris Powici is a poet and occasional essayist. His latest poetry collection is Look, Breathe (Red Squirrel Press). He lives in Stirlingshire and teaches creative writing for The University of Stirling and The Open University.
Poem of the Month for May
At Sheriffmuir
all day this thick summer rain
no sun to speak of
only the moor dimmed down
to a brown, heathery blur
a ewe trots through the heavy grass
and stands at the edge of a peat hag
so drenched, so calm
she could be breathing rain
at any moment she could become rain
her fleece is turning into water
her eyes are wet and black and deep
the roadside bracken shivers
under its hood of glints
and the blue harebell petals bend
and give, a little,
as if they know there’s more to come
there’s always more to come
the same rain seeps into the dark tangle of your hair
makes its slow way down the skin at the back of your neck
cool and silent, but telling you something
about here and now and how close the world is ̶
grass, bracken, a few small damp flowers
all it takes to start seeing thing again
to begin