Flaxen Sheaf

Softly winnowing, shifting neat
Deftly yielding seed from sheath,
Sifting cleft wheat from weed,
Sweeping sleeves bereft of seed

Wielding fleets of sickle o’er
Nimbly threshing flaxen plant,
Cloven seams unwoven—spent,
Shafts of sheafs—swiftly rent

The chaffing teeth,
The shearing tooth,
The shaven chaff,
The grieving root.

The Echo

The echo resonates—
confirmation you are alone,
Borne along with contractions
are pitches and tone.

Giving breath to life is labour—
breath pregnant with sound,
–collected in thought,
–delivered with care,
–spoken aloud.

The birth of words weighty,
born into new air profound,
the echo will perish,
the meaning resound.

Sentiment as Sediment

Gloomy Tuesday sits thickly
like a pot of glue,
thick and almost solid,
—almost set

Old Monday like forgotten honey rests,
—Separate,
The dregs lay,
Heavy at the bottom of the thick glass

Tuesday, a blue day.

Flaxen Sheaf and other poems are © Laura Scanlon

Laura Scanlon has recently just completed an MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture at UCD. Her dissertation focused on social media and the weaponization of the ‘male gaze’. She is interested in writing as well as feminism and masculinity studies. Her poetry displays an intense interest in wordplay, which she often employs to describe human creative processes, both mental and physical, as well as the passage of time and the power of language.