Passing of the Artist
for Veronica
You promised to return as a seagull.
Why not? While not entirely welcomed,
you will be allowed to get away with
modern public art and muggings.
Your relatives have decorated
many a town centre and harbour wall.
Once, a great aunt sat on a lamp post
took perfect aim and shat on my head.
Or the summer a distant cousin
ambushed a waiter at the station café
and swallowed a croissant whole
while I just watched and wondered.
That must have been you on Thursday
over lunch in Piazza Terracina,
making off with my banana bread.
Clare Bryden is a writer and web developer based in Exeter, UK. Her interests are wide-ranging, but primarily the place of humanity within the natural world of which we are part, and the related theology and psychology of connectedness. Her poetry has recently been published in Elsewhere: A Journal of Place, Dream Catcher and the British Dental Journal. website clarebryden.co.uk | bluesky @clarebryden | ex-tweets @clarebryden | instagram @clarebrydenartist
Pulsebeat Poetry Journal 