Salt Islands

1. Islander (Ronald Lockley, Skokholm)
 
Skokholmist, ambassador to the puffin
slums, coneyman, cocklolly-watcher,
salvager of spars, mapper of the dark
guts of burrows, counter of Mother
Carey’s Chickens before they’ve hatched.


2. Island Ferry, Caldey
 
The kind of heat that brings the raw
smell-of-things out: refuse baking
in a dustbin, leafmulch of the holy
wells, thrift prodigal on coastal
paths. There were small deaths inland
of dogs and caged birds - ‘perished’,
the radio said, as if they had souls.
He spent his last five days riding
the ferry through the sea-
...