Uncle Hagop in Stratford upon Avon
I’m on my camp site by the river,
wading through the flood that followed rain
where, undeterred, uncle Hagop swims upstream.
Joy buoys him up like Dead Sea water.
Head and shoulders high, he walruses
his favourite lines:
Now is the winter of our discontent;
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow;
If music be the food of love.
He’s in his element, twice.
Swans gather in his wake,
curling respectful necks.
We leave our sodden tents and follow.
Sarah Mnatzaganian is an Anglo-Armenian poet. Shortlisted for the Poetry Business pamphlet competition 2016/17, her poems have been published in The North, Fenland Reed, London Grip, Poems in the Waiting Room, As Above, So Below, Write to be Counted and #MeToo a women’s anthology edited by Deborah Alma. She studies with Peter and Ann Sansom, Heidi Williamson and Moniza Alvi.
atriumpoetry.com 