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Go shoppingThe adder’s taut head was a few feet away,
its lie a freeze of symmetry and curl
amongst the stones and scruffs of heather.
I remember feeling sure that the cleft it was
sunning in was going to be my next hold,
a craving to match the core of its stillness,
and the quick sense of being singled out,
not by a stumble of chance,
but as if the earth was letting me in.
How I turned, a mile into peat bogs and lochs,
wanting to find someone there to show it to!
But from the moment I retreated to put a yard
or two between us, the adder was merging back
with lichens and rocks, and the snug fit of its markings
had begun to fade; that just as it found me,
the earth was closing me out.
Charlie Druce has lived in London since 1987 and works in TV production. He grew up in rural Worcestershire and finds the deep rooted sense of that is never far from the surface. Human relationship with the environment and its nature drives much of his writing.
‘Adder’ was first published in the poetry and prose anthology A Shake of Stars (Morton Press, 2008).
