Anna-May Laugher
Anna-May has been published in Manifold and Plume, in the Earlyworks and Portsmouth Poems anthologies and
in The Journal. Published online as part of the 1000 views of Girl Singing project, a film was made of
'Stone Map in Ravelin Park' by Chichester University and used by the BBC for the Big Screen Project. Anna-May
is a member of Brickwork poets.
"Strange and beautiful, sometimes disturbing but always grounded in compassion and understanding, these are marvellously original poems." Susan Utting
Tow
So in the haze of breadcrumbs and red wine
with warm brie melting in my gut
I must gather my limbs and drop my heart
in the soft betweens of the reed stalks,
let go your touch of water’d skin
dry my feet in folds of your warm shirt
go home to where the hearth is bored and cold
to where the sun turns its eye blind
and leaves rooms stiff with shadow
until tomorrow, when I’ll unfurl the tow path
straighten the tussocks, plump the vetch,
retrieve my heart, rinse it,
put it back behind my ribs;
sit very still, hands in my lap
wait for you to light the fuse
and send this river bursting through my chest.