In supermarkets, strapped
in a trolley,
on the motorway,
belted in the back of a car,
under the foundered houses,
open mouthed and fed by drips,
in a box drilled with holes,
in the hold of a boat,
in fish crates and on cardboard,
on pallets and straw,
on a bed of needles
on the forest floor,
in the curve of a rosy scarf
tied to a woman’s back,
in a line of walkers
along railway tracks,
under a tarpaulin
on mud and sand,
a child is sleeping,
a child is sleeping.
(This poem was first read at the Chalk Poets Reading at Winchester Poetry Festival, Friday 7 October 2016. Stephanie Norgate is taking part in a Poemathon on Sunday 11th December at the Komedia, Brighton to raise funds for The Refugee Council. Please support Stephanie on her JustGiving page. Thank you.)
Stephanie Norgate leads the Creative Writing MA at Chichester University. Her most recent collection is The Blue Den (Bloodaxe)
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