Clint Wastling’s poetry has been published in Consilience, Dream Catcher, Orbis & Marble and online with The Algebra of Owls and amongst others. Maytree Press published his poetry collection entitled Layers. Clint writes poetry grounded in places he knows well with subjects including family, landscape and geology. He is currently working as poet in residence at Burton Constable Hall. His novel, The Geology of Desire, is an LGBTQ thriller set around Whitby in the 1980’s and Hull during World War II . He also has a sci-fi novel, Tyrants Rex, set 3000 years in the future. Both are published by Stairwell Books. Clint has a full collection of poetry called Quiet Flows the Hull, coming out in late 2022.
If this is the sea
I do not recognise its mood—
it is a mirror reflecting ancient gods
who roamed these shores.
What was land is sea,
what was sea is land –
changes over millions of years;
now summits struggle for breath
above the Adriatic.
I am bound to the land
and bound by the sea—
this salty lake I swim in;
a mere residue of the Mediterranean,
will close to become mountains.
Plate tectonics, inexorable.
Disbelieved – an act of god to some.
When the earth quakes,
which god is angry?
Put your faith in the Earth,
the here and now of all we witness;
standing above Dugi Otok’s Cliffs
and their view toward forgotten empires.
For other contributions by Clint Wastling, please follow the link below:
Poetry in this post: © Clint Wastling
Published with the permission of Clint Wastling