Demoiselle in the School Hall

Unexpected encounters are often the most memorable. Last summer I was being swept through the school corridors when I spotted a green glimmer in one of the windows of the school hall.

I managed to break free of the home time crowds and went over to have a look. I discovered it was a female banded demoiselle.

She was quite weak from struggling at the glass so let me carry her to the door. After a minute or two I watched her fly off over the swarms of kids boarding buses.

I think I sympathised with her being trapped in that building.... I'm so glad I noticed her.

Anyway, I wrote a poem about it. I entered the poem into the Shepton Mallet Snowdrop Festival's poetry competition (for my age range), the theme of which was Let Nature Thrive. My poem was awarded Second Place! Read it below.

Demoiselle in the School Hall

curved  

like a fern fist, obsidian claspers 

tight upon abdomen 

fragment of riverbed  

rushes and kingfisher 

an iridescent flick of fish, metallic – 

what brought you here? 

Trapped above the stacked plastic chairs  

and sideways tables, the home time 

chaos, a rush for buses 

this is no place for us 

I take you on my finger  

feel a scratch, the tightness of grip 

the strum of latticed wings 

wind in trees, wind in reeds  

the pull of water  

rocks in a stream. 

Lifted, you release, a pluck pluck  

of feet from skin 

staccato your way up  

one moment here, another gone