Photography © Jennifer Matthews

Spectre of the Brocken

I’ve only once possessed a halo,
on the summit of a mountain
my shadow cast like a shroud
onto mist, sunlight diffracted
into a rainbow round my head.
My own personal nimbus.

It set me thinking about the sky
how its blue and why
light scatters in the air from
molecules of oxygen and nitrogen.
Their interference a Rayleigh scattering
of shorter wavelength blues and a smattering
of violet.
Does the sea reflect the sky?
Or sky the sea and does it matter?
Is the whiteness of the sun simply Mie scatter?

I’ve only once possessed a halo,
on the summit of a mountain
my shadow was cast like an angel
but no one else would ever see it.

Clint Wastling’s poetry has been published in Blue Nib, Dream Catcher, Strix, Marble and online with The Algebra of Owls. He’s also been published in the USA in Parody and Avocet. Clint has a collection – Layers published by Maytree Press. His poem “The Lefty Revolution” was a winner in the 2018 Northern Writes Award. His novel, The Geology of Desire, is an LGBTQ thriller set around Whitby in the 1980’s and Hull during World War II. He also has a sci-fi novel, Tyrants Rex, set 3000 years in the future, both published by Stairwell Books.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of Poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.