Content Warning: grief

Robert Miner – 3 A.M.

a tanka sequence

Cheek pressed against the

window screen breathing in the

scent of metal, dust.

Cold mesh biting into skin -

my thoughts all sound like screaming.

*

Diving again and

again into black water,

grasping for a hand,

a shirt, anything – I dreamed I

was transformed into a swan.

*

Paper thin horizon -

only a faded red barn,

distant cluster of trees.

Corn stalks like hundreds of arms

clawing through soft earth.

*

Too much red wine and

talking - seagulls circling

empty beach. Sleepless again.

Salt-sweat stain like a peeled

layer of skin on the sheets.

Robert Miner is a former political consultant who now works in the energy sector. His poems have appeared in Brazos River Review, The Earth Journal, Ekphrastic Review, You Might Need to Hear This, Jerry Jazz Musician, The Dewdrop and Tanka Journal and soon in Ribbons. He can be found on RobertMinerpoetry on Instagram and bminer11 on Twitter.

Photograph by Mathew Harrison

Photographer Mathew Harrison brings his love of the natural world to his photographic work. A member of the Royal Photographic Society, he has an exhibition of his work at The Yorkshire Arboretum in November. With his other hat on he works with a team leading one of North Yorkshire's most respected and ethically driven visitor attractions. You can say hi to Mathew on Twitter @iphotomat