Mark Totterdell

Mark Totterdell’s poems have appeared widely in magazines and have occasionally won competitions. His collections are This Patter of Traces (Oversteps Books, 2014) and Mapping (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2018).

Colias

 

Yolk among egg white,

gem among stones,

spark among papers,

soul among bones,

gold among silver,

hymn among tunes,

flame among ashes,

sun among moons.

 

© Mark Totterdell

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Janthina

 

Janthina, Janthina,

far out on the ocean

in only your elegant

thin violet coat.

 

Janthina, Janthina,

with nothing but dribbles

of spittle and bubbles

to keep you afloat.

 

Janthina, Janthina,

blown hither and thither,

a thousand full fathoms

above the abyss,

 

and seizing the hearts of

the by-the-wind-sailors,

and rasping them ragged

with each savage kiss.

 

© Mark Totterdell

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