Cathy Whittaker

Stratford upon Avon  UK

I have had poems published in many magazines including, Under the Radar, Prole, Interpreter’s House, Artemis, Dream Catcher and Mslexia. I was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. A pamphlet of my poems was longlisted for, Frosted Fire Firsts Cheltenham Poetry Festival, and also commended for the Geoffrey Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize, Indigo Press. I have poems in a few anthologies which include, #MeToo, ed: Debra Alma and This place I know, A New anthology of Cumbrian Poetry ed: Kim Moore, Kerry Darbishire, and Liz Nuttall. I tutor in creative writing at an education centre having gained a degree in Creative Writing from Birmingham University.

Poem completed 29 April 2020

Alchemy

You wear a faded flowered Kaftan

bought from a market stall in Walthamstow,

drag out your easel from the cupboard under the stairs

stolen from college one part at a time

with the help of other impoverished artists,

select boxes, neat tubes of paint nesting inside,

carefully saved for from the housekeeping money,

squeeze a trial of colours on to your palette

ochre, burnt sienna, ultramarine, vermilion,

with a smile like a long sigh you add linseed oil,

and then you swirl your brush across

the white canvas in a long curve of smoky red.