Up into the attic that was never there
to find a cradle of mislaid bones,
a doll or two – dusty with unplaying.
A newspaper with an ancient date,
baby of the week photo keeking out,
and among the eaves a shawl
crocheted with cobwebs. Beyond
the skylight – a geometry of wings.
“Relics was written at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre in June to a morning pages prompt from tutors Peter and Ann Sansom, on going up into an attic. The attic in the poem is the attic that lives in my head, being childless not by choice: the missed opportunities of playing with my own children, having their photo in the local newspaper etc. Without getting too hippy trippy about things, I do believe I have a spirit child somewhere or at least one that lives in my imagination so that’s what the last line is about.”
Lynn Valentine’s debut poetry collection, Life’s Stink and Honey, was published by Cinnamon Press in 2022 after winning their literature award. She is working on her next collection, Fallow, for Cinnamon Press (due 2026). Her Scots language pamphlet was published in 2021 after winning Hedgehog Press’ dialect award.