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30th August, 2024

Friday Poem – ‘Danger’ by Rachel Carney

Photo of a single jellyfish floating in the shallows, its pale body hidden amongst the seaweed.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Danger’ by Rachel Carney from her debut collection Octopus Mind. This weekend is your last chance to get Octopus Mind (and lots of other great books) half-price in our Summer Sale. Use the code ‘summer2024’. Sale ends 11:59pm Sunday 1st September.

Danger We were warned about the jellyfish, where we paddled, tentatively, in the shallows, our backs to the sun, feet braced against the slap of wavelets, eyes alert for anything globular, for anything pale, or stringy. And we were warned about the sinking sand – sluggish, wet, sucking at our shoes, swallowing our shoes. And the cliffs that might collapse at any moment, that might crumble to dust and bury us alive in a heap of rock and fossils. They warned us about the danger of talking to strangers, of strange men in nightclubs offering to walk us home. We were warned to say, before we set off, into the mountains, which path we planned to take, and exactly when we planned to return. But nobody warned us about the danger of sitting, alone, on the sofa. Or the danger of forgetting to eat, of not wanting to get up from the sofa. And nobody warned us of how difficult it can be, sometimes, just to lace up your trainers, to open the front door, to take a deep breath and brace yourself. To walk outside.

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Related Books

This cover shows a photograph of a stone sculpture of a half-profile woman's face submerged beneath the waves. The text reads: Octopus Mind. Rachel Carney.

Octopus Mind

Rachel Carney

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