Guest Poem by Penelope Shuttle

Penelope Shuttle lives in Cornwall. Her thirteenth collection, Lyonesse, appeared from Bloodaxe Books in June 2021, and was Observer Poetry Book of the Month.  Lyonesse was long-listed for the Laurel Prize 2022. Shuttle is President of the Falmouth Poetry Group, founded in 1972 by her late husband, poet Peter Redgrove.

in real time

a day comes
when you don’t walk
by the sea
despite the lovely air of May

but go back
to the hotel
to sleep all afternoon
in a room gorging on sun

a time comes
when you don’t jump up
to dance

but watch from a corner
as couples sway like wheat in the field

I bow down before that sun
whose light forebodes me

I bow down
in sombre accord with the sun
who permits no guesswork

pointing out
with characteristic clarity
the silhouette shape of days to come

where I occupy the sidelines
am older but no wiser
a shadow of my former self

thanks above all to
(take a bow!)
the sun!