Catherine Redford

Return

She holds the body, suddenly small
—beak, eye, wing—
in the cradle of her fingers.

                           ammonite unfurls like fern
                                  a return to air
                      untethered resurrection
                                                   heading for open water 

She pours plaster into the cavity
carved by the impact,
expertly extracts the cast.
She catalogues, composes
curatorial notes with ease:
date, time, interpretation.
Footsteps sound in the corridors of white space
between the exhibits.

  muscle fades into loam
                      a practised decomposition
feathers counted one by one
against the folds of damp earth
cove of ribcage fills with tidal soil
bones splay like petals
   pushing against the dew

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Catherine Redford lives in the West Midlands. She started writing poetry after being widowed at the age of 35. She has poems published in a number of journals and anthologies, including Under the Radar, The Storms, New Welsh Reader, Propel, Lighthouse, Ink Sweat & Tears, Black Bough and Atrium. She is an editor at Dust Poetry Magazine and is a Writing West Midlands Room 204 writer. She has been longlisted for the Nine Arches Press Primers competition (2023) and longlisted for the Dai Fry Award (2022). Twitter: @C_Redford_ Instagram: catherine__redford