Start with hot pavement, beach sand,
pine needles and spiked holly leaves.

Work your way up to silica packets,
crushed beads and boiled sweets.

Soon you will know the ball and heel
as a captain knows stern and prow,

rolling over the crests of waves,
as the bilge takes on black water.

A toddler can make herself heavy;
make yourself light as a Blakean etch

the line between body and ground
resting as a child on mother’s chest.

Breathe and step, a blindfold Lear,
wet chick nudged over the nest.

You lived for this moment, come at last
weightless over the staining glass.

ROBERT PEAKE is a British-American poet. His film-poem collaborations have been widely screened at festivals throughout the US, UK, and Europe. Robert founded the Transatlantic Poetry online reading series and is a Poetry Surgery tutor for The Poetry Society in the UK. His most recent full-length collection is Cyclone (Nine Arches Press, 2018).