Let stars be an army the oceans a battlement
stand with the heart of a Griffin.
Allow those petty arrows of spite
to pierce flesh and fall in secluded waters
where no one will ever hear them splash.
Be an eye of the eagle - a body of fur
voyaging beyond the moon –
withdrawing the arrow’s head

splitting the hearts vessel
rooted in the crook of man’s spine - 
be not that drifting ship of covetousness.
Let the rainbow be the eye and lift to hook -
when you can ask swifts to whisper poems
into the ears of those that despise you the most -
Be visible to that enemy –
yet never close enough for them to touch.

Matt Duggan is a poet based in Bristol in the U.K. his work has appeared in several journals such as Ghost City Review, Foxtrot Uniform, Confluence, Marble Poetry Magazine, L'Ephemere Review, Osiris, his second full collection  'Woodworm' ( Hedgehog Poetry Press) came out in July 2019.