This is from my recently released debut collection, Fault Line published by Lapwing (you can click on the link to the left to order a copy) and was inspired when found my copy of Ring of Bright Water that I bought in 1963.
Still legible on the first foxed page
of a Ring of Bright Water.
Red ink.
Sloping backwards.
The mark of a boy
50 years ago, stepping
gingerly into an adult’s world
of inky flourishes.
Now it’s bold, self-assured
A set style for so long,
illegible after
the first two letters.
A dance in black ink, leaning
into a headwind of years.
Rushing towards
the page’s right edge.
welshstream 