the skin-thin of time

Received a few, new poetry collections for Christmas ...

... this one is a 2022 volume, jointly written by two sisters, and here's the opening poem from within:


Kin

We place palms to your futures
stretch sinuous span
beneath the skin-thin of time
these lips we gild with ochre
spit life to this rock
paint our breath to your eyes
and sing kin into earth

we language land and sea
open-handed we speak them
right-named, we warm the world-womb
capture the stars to light you to it.
Listen, your song is spiralled in stone
in water and the underthought of words
trace it in the carry of your life-stream.

The crease which folds your hand
is the wound that remembers us
an opening to bind us to you
we have poured all our wisdom there.

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Cait O'Neill McCullagh & Sinead McClure

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