Highly Commended: M.R. Peacocke, 'Flies'

Highly Commended: M.R. Peacocke,

‘Flies’

M.R. Peacocke’s poem ‘Flies’ has been Highly Commended in the 2020 Newcastle Poetry Competition.

 

Flies

 

There’s a rusted yellow rose tapping at the pane.

In here a bluebottle keeps veering and droning,

wanting the air to open.

 

I’m old, I’m like Roman glass,

no more use, carefully kept, fragile and cloudy.

Everything about me is a long time ago.

 

There was a kitchen where I used to play. I watched

houseflies riding an invisible carousel.

They were happy as they were,

 

sipping the smells. Let me out

to the ragged world, freed from sweepers and sprayers

who come in early for those of us on our backs.

 

M.R. Peacocke has written poems since she was 4 and has been publishing since her 50s. Now at 90, she’s discovering how her writing really wants to go. She has lived several lives: nurturing family, teaching, enjoying music and has 25 years’ experience as a smallholder.