Morning Anointing
by Rachel Grandey
Forest matins:
in the canopy a sudden brilliance
of sun-breathed air.
A squirrel leaps, light-hung
ethereal in amber ray,
alights, re-earthed, rooted again.
It is for this that I am here.
Each spreadeagled suspension, radiant oblation
my own re-earthing, scrabbled foothold of dappled clay.
Rachel, originally from Northeast England, studied literature, linguistics, and anthropology before moving to Southeast Asia to teach English. She enjoys sea-gazing, bird-watching, tea-drinking, and early morning forest-exploring. Her proudest literary achievement to date is winning a signed Manchester United football in a poetry competition at the age of fourteen.
