like a ship the shape of flight
or like the weight that keeps it upright
or like a skyline crossed by breadth
or like the planking bent beneath
or like a glint or like a gust
or like the lofting of a mast
such am I who flits and flows
and seeks and serves and swiftly goes –
the ship sets sail, the weight is thrown,
the skyline shifts, the planks groan,
the glint glides, the gust shivers
the mast sways and so does water

Extract from Dart, Alice Oswald’s poem created from three years spent walking the river Dart, in Devon, south-west England, ...

 

There are approximately 11 more words in this article.

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