SIOBHAN MULLIGAN

Self-Portrait as Kingfisher

(the concrete nature of this poem lies in its accompanying and incorporated illustration. To the left side of the poem is an illustration of a head in profile. The head has no body, but lustrous blue hair in multiple shades, falling down the page. The poem follows the curves of this image. The eyes of the face are closed. The eyebrows are blue. The skin is too pale to exist. There are circles drawn in the cheeks and nose for a blush of colour. The head is sitting very straight, as though it were one of the classical busts of ancient Greece. )

I walk along the river and look

daily for kingfisher, electric health,

past heavy brick and buses I took

the bird to be a sign of self-

salvation. The kingfisher’s electric health

whistles through the watershed. Cared-for, clean.

The bird could be a sign of self – 

I hear it, but it’s hardly seen

whistling through the watershed, a cared-for gleam

past heavy brick through trips I took

   to hear it. Though it’s hardly seen,

       I walk along the river                         look!