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THE MELITA HUME SHORTLIST 2014: DAISY BEHAGG (4 OF 11)



Daisy Behagg (pictured), born in 1987, grew up on the south coast, and attained a BA and MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University, both with distinction. She was the first winner of the Templar portfolio prize in 2014: her winning short pamphlet Cockpit Syndrome will be published in May. In 2013 she won the Bridport prize for poetry, and was long-listed for the Cinnamon debut collection prize.
 
Her work has appeared in The Rialto, Poetry Wales, The North, Ambit, The Warwick Review, Poetry Salzburg Review and Stand. She currently lives in Bristol, teaches creative writing and edits for online arts journal New Linear Perspectives.


THE SINGING OF THE REAL WORLD

 

You could say it was light,

with its talent for reading

the true thoughts of objects

– light speaking

the language of motion.

 

He threw a handful of sand,

saw how the light revealed in it

a constellation's glitter

for briefest moments, saw

the moving potential for glass

 

suspended – falling – then

he saw the hidden verb

in everything, objects shaking free

of their tenses – the window

a perfectly framed article

 

of pane and wood, solid, and yet

he could hear it singing

underneath – the shattering’s

moment of hung brilliance

– the fall.


poem COPYRIGHT THE POET 2014
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