Shortlisted for poetry competition

I received a lovely email this morning from Olive O’Brien from Creative Writing Ink to say that my poem had been shortlisted for their monthly competition. This is the first poetry competition I’ve entered so I was thrilled to receive the news.  I wrote the poem after spending the afternoon with my father who was terminally ill with cancer.  Here’s the poem:

Unready

A frozen-heart wind

heads towards me.

Yellow Rattle locks

on tight, taking delight

in its stranglehold grip,

choking its bed fellows.

 

Stone-cold catches

in my throat, spits

into my eyes. Soft

tears form and freeze

into the folds of my scarf.

 

I thought I was ready

for this walk into winter.

Icy fingers weave

through the layers,

leaving their touch behind.

 

 

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash