ANNA FLETCHER

 

Inside A Dream

 

Behind the quietest part of the night

As lucid lullabies drift from the moon,

Since slumber trickles towards dawn's new light;

Stars fading away while covers lay strewn.

Rhythmical rises and falls of the chest,

Deep and heavy, like an elephant’s sigh,

Undisturbed dormancy awaits the crest

For waking life to ignite in the eye…

Cool cornflower skies, long lavender field,

White waterfalls meandering to space,

Sparkles of stardust; dimensions concealed

Morpheus appears, revealing your face.

Apollo follows, destroying the scene

Exiled and awake, and outside the dream.

 

Ode To Adlestrop

 

Reading poems on the train to London,

reading Adlestrop. Suddenly, my mind

glances north towards those mistier horizons;

I am lifted from my seat

and flying with all the birds

of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire,

contemplating pre-war England,

remembering Edward Thomas,

appreciating the countryside

he loved so much, wrote so much of.

And while I mind-traveled to a station I’ve never seen,

I missed Wiltshire and Berkshire,

because when I next looked out of the window

I was already at Reading, reading poems

on the train.

 

Porthmeor Beach

 

With my feet in your sand, I am grounded

With your air in my lungs, I’m alive

Through years and miles I’ll always return

Whether storm or sunset over St Ives.

 

First, I built my sandcastle

You took it away in your tide

So then, I built a citadel

And we played on the shore side by side.

 

You carried me, I was your mermaid

‘Til I learned to surf your breaks

You showed me possibilities

And you cushioned my mistakes.

 

Now I’m lucky enough to share you

For you to teach my own son

You’re building sandcastles already

A new generation begun.

 

With his feet in your sand, I am grounded

With your air in his lungs, I’m alive

Through years and miles we will return

Whether storm or sunset over St Ives.

 

ANNA FLETCHER

 

ANNA FLETCHER is a poet, writer and editor from Plymouth, UK. Several of her poems have appeared in numerous national and global anthologies and she has written plays which have been produced with success in her city. She also writes articles and fiction on literature and mental health and has a professional and academic background in special educational needs. Currently, her main role in life is taking care of her son who has autism and other invisible disabilities. Fletcher co-edited Soflay Anthology of Microstories Volume 1 (2021) and Volume 2 (2023) with Dr Rehmat Changaizi. Her poems feature in each volume of the annual poetry anthology Whispers of Soflay. Fletcher’s poetic works are also included in the books Tried, Tested and True Poets from Across the Globe, and Poetry Just Got Real with a Little Help From my Friends Across the Globe Anthology both by author Renee Drummond-Brown, and mutually intense international writers. Fletcher is honoured to appear as the featured author in issue 1 of the new international literary magazine the Writing On The Wall Global Magazine produced by Renee Drummond-Brown.