Drought

The summer is smoke long
Like our fired stories,
Stretching and twisting their way over settled sand,
Drifting low over a tinplate sea.
The haze and the heat last weeks,
Tipping us from skipping joy to desiccated discomfort,
As we wait for the shifting wind,
For that sudden turn to autumn
That crinkles leaves in an instant
And pushes the ashes of summer
Into our gasping mouths.

-Larissa Reid

Bios And Links

-Larissa Reid

A freelance science writer by trade, Larissa has written poetry and prose regularly since 2016. Notable publications include Northwords Now, Silk & Smoke, Green Ink Poetry, Fenacular, Black Bough Poetry Anthologies, and the Beyond the Swelkie Anthology. She had a poem shortlisted for the Janet Coats Memorial Prize 2020. Larissa is intrigued by visible and invisible boundary lines in landscapes – geological faultlines, myth and reality, edge-lines of land and sea. Based on Scotland’s east coast, she balances her writing life with bringing up her daughters. Larissa is a founder member of the Edinburgh-based writing group, Twisted::Colon.