New Poems from Anna Cathenka

composition by [thawing] field

this poem has a rime on it

jutting ice crystals covering

space like a white mould

a lichen sonnet

the birds in this poem describe patterns                  words

in the

bleak

paper sky

the sound in this poem is named after a dead prince

glaciers melt into itXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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the lines in this poem

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXcatch mackerelX

 (it is winter and six o clock in the city

 and heels cut through rain drops reflect

 orange lights and brown and orange and

 black sky over the city in the dark in the city

i wind through bodies in the city in the rain under streetlights in the city

and the tyres wheel over rain on the tarmac in the streets and windows

shine heat on my face as i make my way home in the city and buildings

rise from the pavement

rise from the basements

rise from the windows

as i make my way home in the city in the orange sky of the night of the city in the wet streets of the dark of the city

and wait for the bus in the city

and smell stale smoke and bodies on the bus that drives its way slowly through the roads of the city on the way

home of the people of the city as i feel sick sitting on the seat of the bus that i make my way home on in the city

and reflect

and reflect

and reflect

and reflect

and reflect

and reflect

and reflect

and reflect

and anticipate the right place to ring the bell of the city bus in the suburbs of the city and get off in the

suburbs and feel threatened through the streets as i

make my way home through the suburbs under the

orange light of the sky of the suburbs in the hush of the

suburbs hearing my own footsteps in the suburbs and

the blue jets of curtain light in the suburbs from the tv

screens in the suburbs of the buildings that rise from the

basements of the suburbs from the streets of the

suburbs to the high rise flats of the suburbs and am

trapped

and am trappedXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX[in the suburbs of the city])

STEPPES

i.

XXXXXXXXXXXXfootprints of

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heads bowed against | buffeting ice wind

repose

of snow-assaulted

mammoth

ii.

trampled place or plain

The Silk Road.

iii.

montane grassland : krummholz [stunted] . subarctic / subalpine .

cyperaceae / sedges . prostrate shrubs . tussocks of gramminoids .

bryophytes / lichens [cushion plants . algae . moss]

Anna Cathenka is excited by experimentation and playfulness in poetry and writes on a variety themes, from ecofeminism to the Anglo-Saxons. She has been published in Stride, X-Peri, Zoomorphic and International Times amongst others. She collaborates as part of the Sun Beats collective, lives in Cornwall with her cat, and can be found online @annacathenka.

The photograph, ‘Disko Bay Greenland May 2015’ is by Hans Strand. Strand was born in Marmaverken, Sweden, in 1955. As a photographer, he is drawn to the untamed and unmanipulated that he finds in nature. His work has taken him across the world, from the vast Arctic to the steaming rainforests and dry deserts. He has published five books of his photography and won numerous awards, including Landscape Photographer of the Year, Hasseblad Master Award, Wildlife Photographer of the Year and European Wildlife Photographer of the Year. More of Strand’s work can be found on his website.