Matthew M.C. Smith – Meta
I could say that the sliver of sunset
is a dragon’s keep, its body
blood-brown on spoils of gold
and that the glowering clouds
are phantom mountains ascending
to a night of jagged stars. But all
these words, thrown like spears
in darkness, lose their lancing
trajectories; the poem is writing
and rewriting itself, it is resonance
in cold and reflex. It is still gold
on the horizon, burning its brightest
and my throat is still humming words
on ragged breath as I scratch out patterns
in ink. This is play, not final, never final –
and replay. As I see back,
a poem is rewriting itself.
Matthew M.C. Smith is a Swansea poet. His latest collection is The Keeper of Aeons with Broken Spine Arts. He also has a campaign pamphlet ‘Paviland: Ice and Fire’, to bring about the return of the ‘Red Man of Paviland’ to Swansea from Oxford.
Photograph: Mossy pillar with lichens by D.C. Nobes
D.C. Nobes is a scientist who spent his first 39 years in or near Toronto, Canada, then 23 years based in Christchurch, New Zealand, 4 years in China, and has now retired to Bali. He used to enjoy winter but admits that he doesn’t miss the snow or the cold. His work has appeared in Tarot Poetry NZ and The Violet Hour, and is in press in miniMAG, Karma Comes Before, The Hooghly Review, Poetry as Promised, Whimsical Publishing Press, and Boats Against the Current.