Remains
Is this what happens?
After leaving the body
it wanders down alleyways searching
for something solid to inhabit –
even the heart of a howling dog
in a ruined city, even a leaf
might do. Or it spends its time
staring into windows, waiting
for its shadow to appear.
Maybe it's in a foreign room
listening for a hymn that's yet
to be written. Perhaps, like notes
in the foxed margins of a book,
it just leaves traces.
Maggie Sawkins lives in Portsmouth and delivers creative writing projects in community settings. Her live literature production "Zones of Avoidance" won the 2013 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. Her most recent poetry collection, Many Skies Have Fallen, is published by Wild Mouse Press. You can find her here: www.hookedonwords.me.