Aberdonian Winter

25/05/11

Aberdonian Winter by Rizwan Akhtar

Rizwan Akhtar divides his time between Aberdeen and Essex. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Essex. His poems have appeared in Poetry Salzburg Review, Poetry NZ, Wasafiri, Postcolonial Text, decanto, Poesia, PAK, Orbis, The Other Poetry, South Asian Review, tinfoildresses, and Poetry Forward Press, UK.

Aberdonian winter
I
Beneath a dark sky there are no shades
only a white web of black barks
the snowy morning is touch illuminated
by the surreal peripheries on the horizon
the city holds to its frozen centre
the old structures settle in the stoned silence,
wind-shattered a crow perches on the antennae .

II
The crusted pavement is a forensic sheet
the town is a map of footprints, a prowler
from the beyond only adds to its obscurity,
the snow freezes his directions but melts
in the prolonged pauses, the wind leaves him
scattered on a road going everywhere.

III
A slow spooky rain determines the status
of the wanderer; the accent gurgles with
distant streams, tongues rinse in the alien tides
the teeth sparkle in the Northern mirrors
the buds are brown, the enamel is white.

IV
The church is cobbled into nuptial solemnity
kilt-wearing men play pipes, the groom whips
the last flakes (he cruises past) from the bride's lips
the guests disperse mutely.

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