top of page
Sam Bootle – frayings
these frayings
unpicked threads wisping
from my open mouth
thread-roots blindly nerving into
gaps
cracks
pale as a day-moon’s ghost
tremble-fingered
meshing themselves into
a songbird’s skull
Sam Bootle teaches French literature at Durham University, UK, specialising in late nineteenth-century French poetry. His translations of Jules Laforgue feature in the anthology All Keyboards are Legitimate (2023), and he has also published his own poetry in Alchemy Spoon, Dreich, Dust, Francosphères, Mono, The Oxonian Review and StepAway.
Artwork: Music by Merlin Flower
Merlin Flower is an independent artist and writer.
bottom of page