Two Poems by Angela France

Brock says

delve deep
_______under stone
claw sharpstrike into roots
___________________and earth
find allworld below
________for shelterness

my jaws make a hallowing
of sinless worm and slug

I am needful of night-swart
uncleft in my woodside ledemark

leave sun-tide
________to aquern and wort-cropper
_____________beingless to me

 

Fox

___is my namen
_______man slurs me elles
__clithe not to my ruddy hide
my ledemark tithing is all
___the dun I tread
________coneys and wort-croppers
are underyoke to me
__bow to my holyroom
_____under delvern and root

niht-time is mine_ evenleether
with brock and nadder
____leafworm and wanderlight
my wif is a bale-fire at swart-time
_calling wellstemned

I wend where I will
_____seave and rede
_______fox is my namen

 

First published in the collection The Hill (Nine Arches Press 2017)

 

Angela France’s publications include Occupation (Ragged Raven Press, 2009), Lessons in Mallemaroking (Nine Arches Press, 2011) and Hide (Nine Arches Press 2013). Her latest collection, The Hill, was published in July 2017 by Nine Arches Press. Angela teaches creative writing at the University of Gloucestershire and in various community settings as well as working for a local charity. She runs a reading series in Cheltenham, Buzzwords.