Claire Crowther's The Clockwork Gift

A sample poem--

Petra Genetrix

I won't replace lost wedding cutlery,

its broad straight limbs,

with new shallow spoons,

their writhing shoulderless handles--

Lines get broken.

All I see in museums

is the frozen watchfulness of a previous home.

Ancient knives found under Eden Walk are flints

polished in an age defined by how it ate.

There's no matching greenstone and dolomite

though I could still buy old patterns,

shell, feather, rat tail.

'Granny, did you throw away your silver?'

'The table of the moon is laid with it.'

Claire Crowther

The Clockwork Gift (Shearsman, 2009)

It can be purchased directly from Shearsman Books or from The Book Depository.