Poem
Christopher James
AFTER THE STORM
AFTER THE STORM
AFTER THE STORM
She watches the rainlike a cat watches the rain,
intently, completely,
examining the pine-needles
of water on the carriage window,
and out beyond
at the silver roofs of barns
and at the barrel that has
crash-landed in a field.
Her feet are pin-ball flippers
twitching in their ankle socks,
impatient to leave.
The sky has the face of a black sheep.
Unnoticed, a tree has burst through
the lid of a machine gun billet.
It is a week after the storm.
Trees have fainted: they lie
face down where they fell.
© 2006, Christopher James
From: The Invention of Butterfly
Publisher: Ragged Raven Press,
From: The Invention of Butterfly
Publisher: Ragged Raven Press,
Christopher James
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1975)
Christopher James won the National Poetry Competition in March 2009 for his poem ‘Farewell to the Earth’. He also won the Bridport Prize in 2002 and the Ledbury Poetry Prize in 2002 and 2006. His most recent collection is The Invention of Butterfly. Christopher is also the recipient of an Eric Gregory award from the Society of Authors. His poems have appeared in The Rialto, Smiths Knoll, Londo...
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Poems of Christopher James
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AFTER THE STORM
She watches the rainlike a cat watches the rain,
intently, completely,
examining the pine-needles
of water on the carriage window,
and out beyond
at the silver roofs of barns
and at the barrel that has
crash-landed in a field.
Her feet are pin-ball flippers
twitching in their ankle socks,
impatient to leave.
The sky has the face of a black sheep.
Unnoticed, a tree has burst through
the lid of a machine gun billet.
It is a week after the storm.
Trees have fainted: they lie
face down where they fell.
From: The Invention of Butterfly
AFTER THE STORM
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