DAVID J COSTELLO
On Thurstaston Hill
The sun
incandescent with itself
bubbles and blisters
prosthetic grey cloud
like polystyrene
eating fire
a lance of light
trepans fluffy fontanelles
stitching gold
to the cornfields below
a shock of sky
dissolves at its touch
spilling colour everywhere
seeding my eyes with jewels
a treasure revealed
but only to me.
Clockwork
Concerned with time
they designed
a clockwork box to keep it in
Its brassy beak pecking inside
hollowing it out
When my time was running low
they sewed one into me
To top it up
It taps inside my bony cage
and tries to pick the lock.
Roots
Lost in a walk
I stumbled on a forest
Grown thick in the space
Between adult and child
Memory’s crucible
Buckled all the paths
Confusing me
Funnelling me the wrong way
Every step snagged
On a wrangle of roots
As the old wood
Tried to reacquire me
Tried to steal another year
To call its own
Tethering my orbit
To its wooden heart
David J Costello lives in Wallasey, Merseyside, and is co-organiser of local poetry venues The Bards (New Brighton) and Liver Bards (Liverpool). His work has been published in anthologies and poetry journals including, in recent months, The Penny Dreadful, Envoi and Magma. He has been placed in various competitions, most recently being shortlisted for the 2011 Grist Poetry Prize and winning the 2011 Welsh Poetry Competition. David's first collection of poetry, Human Engineering, is due from Thynks Publications later this year.
