Ann Stanley

Even if you are dropped after seven in a fourteen-lap race,
And you are capricious, inconsistent and incompatible with yourself,
The ideal version of you is you,
So a daily rendition of yourself,
...

You stroll by the river,
seeking,
cross the road to the Riverview
and get your dog to lie on the ground.
...

Even though I’d love to suck in a gale
plough the earth with my teeth
and dive tongue-first into a frothy tide
I hardly ever stand even up to my ankles in the river
...

I’m not a frightened forest child
Or prey that peeps around a tree
I’m not a plant that waits for water
I barge through the river and rouse up the sea
...