HCE received a lot of high-quality submissions for The Green Issue – sadly, too many to fit inside the magazine! So we offered some shortlisted writers and artists the chance to be published here on the website. Keep an eye on our social media for more great writing like this, in the run-up to the release of The Green Issue…
My Little Sister
Scott Elder
Dance, dance…otherwise we are lost.
-Pina Bausch
Before speaking ___I focus on emerald
only then she opens her eyes
my little sister speaks in green
the shades rear up ___subside
she thinks in green and dreams of me
speaking to her in olive or jade
we’re not playing games
she blurts ___and turns
I feel my fingers fading away
there’s music in her eyes
a Gaelic harp __we step in time
one foot forward ___one to the side
from breeze to gust ___a tower thunders
she’s becoming a blade of grass
leaving me __a breath in time
now ___and then no longer
Scott Elder’s work has been widely published on both sides of the Atlantic as well as having been placed or commended in numerous competitions in the UK and Ireland. His debut pamphlet Breaking Away was published by Poetry Salzburg in 2015. This was followed by first collection Part of the Dark in 2017 with Dempsey & Windle (UK), and his second, My Hotel, is forthcoming with Salmon Poetry (Ireland) in 2023 .