Katherine Gallagher

I am the eyeless core of the morning
whirling over dunes with whips

ready, sweeping birds, all
before me.
I am the scourge of the riverbed

its runaway stream
bleeding under my hand

an unwelcome frisker
who springs across sky, untamed

peppering sand, pummelling
the earth's hard scalp.

Mere dust, I am the wizard cloud
dreamed up from earth's own soul

the spirit taking off from mud
with the earthquake coming after.

Copyright © Poets of London