Photograph by Joanna Sedgwick
To the Rescue
Leave the village and you're soon
amongst the curlews, their
woodwind madness,
the counterpoints of lapwing,
crow and buzzard.
And as you run, towards
the apex of a hill,
where summer foxgloves
grow taller than dry-stone-walls
and moors beyond
reveal themselves,
gently guide you into them,
a familiar rush engulfs you.
You would never cry like this,
unless your great love drained you stupid,
a dippy half-reality of tears.
Why the fuck are you crying?
And how can you be so happy
in this tired, locked-down world?
Don't tell me this euphoric bliss
that, at its best, beats any time
you've come, this free morphine
for the soul, is just a matter
of natural opiates and receptors
and nothing to do with how much
you love what you're doing
and where you choose to do it.
Mark Connors is a poet and novelist from Leeds. His poetry pamphlet, Life is a Long Song, was published by OWF Press in 2015. His first collection, Nothing is Meant to be Broken, was published by Stairwell Books in 2017. His second collection, Optics, was published by YAFFLE in 2019. You can find him here: www.markconnors.co.uk.
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