LOTTIE STEPHENS

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Breathing Underwater: A Poetry Anthology (2025)

Imitation

To bob up and down

Ebb and flow

Move against the rest

Follow the current

A slight inclination

A peak

A fin

A patch of shade

Or to stand tall ?

A stick against the tide

My form is mirrored

But never fixed

They try to imitate

But it can’t hold

It waves in the wind

My shadow

Or is it braille?

A message?

Scribing a thought

The form

malleable

intangible

whispering

a heart beat

booming

amongst the grey.

Trailing

smoke signals

calligraphy

A long winding road

a rooftop

a skyline

dancing figures in the light.

Trickles of oil

A curved spine

reeds blowing

and waving

Flickering candles

a steaming pot of stew

away and back again.

But look up at the glass and concrete behind.

I imitate them.

I’ll swallow my pride.

I’ll swallow my pride.