shedding skin

In these diverse locations relationships always linger. Catriona Yule
begins with a sardonic Christmas card, a ‘greeting’ which proves to be a pale imitation of a comforting voice, but in turn is followed by a defiant lack of guilt. From here emotions splinter and in each situation the tone leaps off the page. If at times the painting is overtly hurt, it allows for the strokes to darken, none more so than in the menacing ‘Insider’. From deep within the tough and the tender entwine: ‘her dignity tight in her fist’ and ‘we waltzed each other out of sync’. Whether in the Shetlands, touring Cairo on a bus, or lost in the haunting notes as a flute portrays Ground Zero, ‘like a moon’s full belly’ much gravity lies here.

 

Wrong Birds

I watched you strut your peacock dance
prick-plumage blazing turquoise.

You weren’t hers: this dowdy female
grey-brown feathers enflamed by your gaze.

I ditched the table, shot from the room,
somehow dreaming you’d follow.

When I returned, your eyes were deep
in her right breast. My heart fell hard.

A mynah bird caught it in his wing,
puffed his chest out from a darkened perch.

As din squawked from his gullet,
we waltzed each other out of sync.

He hovered, then flew back to his cage.
I sagged back to my seat, blind to hot glances

and the cha cha cha...
 

Bio: Catriona Yule lives in Aberdeen, and works as an English tutor in Aberdeenshire. She is a poet, short story writer and playwright. Two of her plays, Two Seconds and Kitten Heels, have been given rehearsed readings, at The Lemon Tree and Aberdeen Arts Centre, respectively. She performs her poetry with The Blue Salt Collective, presenting poetry accompanied by visual images, live music and dance. She is currently researching a non-fiction project for teenagers and continuing to develop her short fiction techniques through The Open College Of The Arts. This is her first poetry collection. Read more at www.catrionayule.co.uk.