Midwinter Fox

By: Sylvia Oldroyd

                                       flame-tailed

                                       he runs his orbit

                                       round this longest night

                                       from out of the furnace

                                       sears the voice of frost

                                       file rasping on tempered sedge

                                       his bark is the hammer

                                       striking constellations

                                       off lodestone ground

                                       slivers needle my skin

                                       as his widening jaw

                                       loosens a mouthful of stars

                                       summoning the solstice

Sylvia Oldroyd's latest collection, A Mouthful of Stars (Brimstone Press, 2008) is currently available at £5.50, via the e-mail link on this website.

'Sylvia Oldroyd: A Lyric Unity' by R.J.Hansford appears in South 27: A Poetry Magazine from the Southern Counties, April 2003.  Totton: Hobbs the Printers Ltd.  ISSN 0959-1133.