Starfish ~ A poem by Pippa Little

Starfish

Draped akimbo
on warm stone, limp as
gingerbread
or Hands of Glory –

after turn of tide
left curled in yellow buckets
drying out, old socks
beside a picnic:

in half light
as day recedes
something stirs –
nothing to see

they lift
as one
and flit,

weary spaceships
far from home.

Pippa Little

Pippa Little has two collections, Overwintering (Carcanet 2012) and Twist (Arc 2017). She runs reflective writing workshops for first year Newcastle University students for the Royal Literary Fund. Her poetry is widely published in magazines, on radio, film and in anthologies. She leads poetry workshops, mentors and writes reviews. She tweets @pippalittle1

Photo credit @mattartz at http://www.unsplash.com