Cronk Meayll – a poem by Simon Maddrell

                                 Cronk Meayll


                             Rock crystal centre of the bald hill
                                       graves wherever I stare to balance
                                                   feet that teeter & scratch on the edge
                                                           eyes close to a howling sun & nose
                                                                    sea-smelt breeze of gorse flower
                                                                                     heather with undertones of sheep                             
   in a red darkness, like whirlwinds
                species after species extinguish 
                in meteor showers that create visions
                ancestors floating still above twelve graves
                                              hands shaking –– heads shivering
	                                                                    at all we have yet to do.




Cronk Meayll [Manx Gaelic]: Mull Hill (literally bald hill). 
 

Simon Maddrell is a queer Manx man, thriving with HIV. He’s published in fifteen anthologies and publications including AMBIT, Butcher’s Dog, The Moth, The Rialto, Poetry Wales, Stand and Under the Radar. In 2020, Simon’s debut, Throatbone, was published (UnCollected Press) and Queerfella jointly-won The Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition.