Amy’s Song

She is a raven
scavenging
burning stones and stars
standing somehow
in gallows drop stilettos
she touches again
dark red roses
scattered in a hurricane
of feathers
backcombed and wild
as moss green eyes
spilling soul
and a soul’s bones
in a version of black
I go back to
time after time
catching with my long lens
the darkness
pouring from her mouth
like a sash
of night in Camden Town
twisting turning
rising in crosswinds
till it falls
with the gone of it all
different from any
before or since. She was.

Clare McCotter’s haiku, tanka, and haibun have been published in many parts of the world. In 2010 and 2011, she won the IHS Dóchas Ireland Haiku Award. In 2013, she won The British Tanka Award.

Claire has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on Belfast-born Beatrice Grimshaw’s travel writing and fiction. Her longer poetry has appeared in various literary journals, including Abridged, The Moth Magazine, and The Stinging Fly.

Clare was one of three writers featured in Measuring: Dedalus New Writers 1. Black Horse Running, her first collection of haiku, tanka, and haibun, was published in 2012. Clare’s home is Kilrea, County Derry.