Sparrow in the Departure Lounge
By Suzanna Fitzpatrick
Small brooding presence, perched on a monitor tipp-exed by long-term roosting. I watch you watching us scatter to our destinations: hurried, harried, self-absorbed, oblivious even when you peck amongst idling feet; fly past faces intent on screens. We imagine ours are the only journeys, these flights we cannot make ourselves. To you we are merely leavers of crumbs.
Silver Birches
By Suzanna Fitzpatrick
New saplings hang around the park in landscaped clumps. Kids can’t resist their chiffon skin, the urge to peel them raw, discarding curls of frail papyrus. Night sees them restored, blanched smooth by moonlight. Knots peer balefully from leprous trunks, nostalgic for human sacrifice in sacred groves.
Suzanna Fitzpatrick
Suzanna Fitzpatrick’s poetry has been aired on BBC Radio 4 and widely published in magazines and anthologies, including Writing Motherhood (Seren), The Emma Press Anthology of Contemporary Gothic Verse, The Emma Press Anthology of Slow Things, Furies (For Books’ Sake), and Birdbook III (Sidekick Books). She was shortlisted for the 2019 Bridport Prize, longlisted for the 2018 National Poetry Competition, won third prize in the 2023 Shepton Snowdrops Competition, second prize in the 2016 Café Writers and 2010 Buxton Competitions, and won the 2014 Hamish Canham Prize. Her pamphlets are Fledglings (2016), and Crippled (due 2024) (both Red Squirrel Press).
Photo credit: Lukasz Rawa
Apricot Press 