By early winter
Our world begins to shift.

Approaching dusk
We stroll miles from houses
Sunk into valleys of animal-empty fields

The sky swells
Leaching colour all the way down to darkened hills.

Watery light seems to draw us in.
Seaweedy mist moves with us
Hangs onto our clothes.
Trees become petrified
Black coral scrolled onto fading sky.

Feeling submerged as deep-sea divers
Our wellingtons drag heavy mud –
Sleepwalk through an underwater world
Unable to pull free.

Our bodies dissolve into scaly grass
Depth-charged by living shadows –

Twilight is the crack between the worlds

Fish-eyed with awe, we walk the dark
Till morning brings us back
To a safe life, solidity of home

Our familiar sphere of blue
A single drop of dew spinning through space.

 

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George Tardios helped to found the Arvon Foundation’s first writing centre, Totleigh Barton in Devon, as well as the Arvon Poetry Competition. He was a member of the General Council of the National Poetry Centre, and started their National Poetry Competition, now in its fortieth year. In Tanzania he retraced, on foot, H.M. Stanley’s 1871 journey in search of Dr David Livingstone – a trek that took over two years to complete. His poetry is published in various Arts Council/PEN Anthologies, the Puffin Book of Salt Sea Verse, and a text book for schools, English For Me. He continues to write poetry while embarking on an acting career, and has recently completed a second collection, Buttoned-Up Shapes.