Grateful to have been shortlisted for this international award. My poem, 13 ways of looking at ghosts was selected by a jury comprising of the UK’s most renowned editors and publishers, including representatives from the Guardian, Hodder & Stoughton, The Rialto, and The Poetry Exchange. Huge thanks to Zoë Brigley, Chair of the Poetry Jury. Published December 2023. A version of this poem was first published in Southword, Issue 43.
13 ways of looking at ghosts
(after W.S.)
I
Where there is one ghost, there is always more than one ghost
perching on the generous lap of elsewhere.
II
Ghosts ride the bus to the hospice, they whisper
there will be an onwards into the grieving ears of passengers.
III
Ghosts take walks in the electric light of dusk
In summer, they marvel at the daredevil-dives of swifts.
IV
A child and a ghost can be the same
A woman and a man see this, but in different ways.
V
Dog ghosts sprint through fuchsia-hedged
fields, play catch with memories of their humans.
VI
Ghosts don’t wear bruises, hearing aids
they have no need for IV infusions, wheelchairs.
VII
Ghosts are good listeners
They will wait for you on the landing for when you are ready.
VIII
On the hill of Lough Hyne
I see a ghost lifting the echo of a curlew’s call.
IX
They silenced the trees to build office blocks
The ghosts cried.
X
Ghosts host funerals for the animals crushed crossing roads
In verse, they cantillate.
XI
For dear ones in hospital beds chafing breaths, raise the window
offer emerging ghosts an opening.
XII
It was morning and it was raining. Ghost sat in beech tree with blackbird
watched droplets fall like little liquid mirrors.
XIII
As time turns — we will all be ghosts, our hands
lightly pressed on the shoulders of the living.
ink-stained wings 