Tarbuck 70
Alice Tarbuck
to Freja
Hwaet! / I sing of – / In the beginning / Listen: / every beginning, I offer.
Here / in the alcove of my body / in the low hill of my shoulder, I offer.
There / by drawn curtain-light / by dawn’s beginning / every wakening, I offer.
Far / in the space between earth & cloud / the space between earth & stone /
the space between breast and mouth / the space between breath and cry / the
space / between lung and sound / the space between mouth and hand / I offer.
Near / as heard singing / as a kiss / as the warm arm, the strong body / I offer.
In / the quiet places / the green places / the harsh desert / the deep pool / I offer.
On / the by-road / the turf roof / the shore-edge / the harbour / I offer.
Through // exactly // through, and onward, broad & open / every proceeding, I offer.
for amy, who might have sex in Prague
i hope all the bridges lift up their feet
and leave deep holes that become bright pools
i hope he knows you are the prettiest girl in that bridged city
in all that gothic glitz, i hope
that the ghost in the tree picks lemons,
throws them down, that the whole street breathes
one deep yellow breath, then lets them roll away.
Alice Tarbuck is an academic and writer based in Edinburgh. Her first pamphlet, Grid, was published by Sad Press in April 2018. She is part of 12, a women’s poetry collective.