From beneath the cliff, a sudden din
and these flattery-chatterers take off,
thicken the channel with threads.
A black lace veil lifts, swirls
in the glare, risks
scorched edges.

From somewhere a cue to change
tack. Flourish of a return. A wait.
Then, with a phoosh
they go again, a synchronicity
of stretched spans widens
until sky is filled with uncovering.

Out of thousands, a single thought
folds the arc’s pattern, calls out
a final reprise which homes in to
the sun-freckled face of southern cliffs,
to nests wedged in worry lines
on a brow marking time.

These gulls. There seems to be
no purpose other than celebration
of life lived. A coming together
to voice, hurl bodies into sky
not knowing why, just joy
in doing, in rising together

This must be praise,
how worship is done,
a recurring show
of life never ending.

Amanda Rackstraw trained at RADA and worked as an actor before moving to Wales. Following an MA at Cardiff University she taught creative writing in the Department of Continuing Education there until 2017. Her work has been published in various journals including Planet, New Welsh Review, Poetry Wales, Mslexia, Acumen, Modron, most recently with Broken Spine. She has a poem on a sculpture in Dunraven Bay…. Amanda is working on a collection.