Kerrin P. Sharpe
island of the eels
you explore the centre of the Fens
and by the towpath
where the waterways are lock-free
meet two eel catchers
closing the necks of their nets
they say to catch anything
look at the river
there are places to sit
in the distance are fields
of waving mustard
and the lantern tower
of Ely Cathedral
where your votive candle prays
when the curfew bell rings
every swaying lamp
in the eel catcher’s stilt-house
reverts to water
Kerrin P. Sharpe’s first book three days in a wishing well was published by Victoria University Press in 2012. A group of her poems appeared in 2013 in the UK publication Oxford Poets 13 (Carcanet). A second book there’s a medical name for this was published by Victoria University Press in 2014. She has just completed her third collection of poems, rabbit rabbit, with the assistance of a Creative New Zealand grant and this collection will also be published by Victoria University Press in 2016.