{"id":13120,"date":"2025-12-19T14:42:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13120"},"modified":"2025-12-20T13:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T12:07:24","slug":"3-poems-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13120","title":{"rendered":"2 poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Image: \u00a9 Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

bee me up<\/strong><\/p>\n

talk to me about tender.
are you blue from slender.
are you bruised from under.
or are you billowing bright.
were you green this morning.
or are you new to this leafing.
hell bent. on sky filling.
are you made of light.
is this rain again.
or a recent memory.
and is this density.
this opening.
into complexity.
or is a blossom simply.
a tree\u2019s way of saying.
fuck me.
love me.
bee me up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

to reflect is to bend or turn back. <\/strong><\/p>\n

rays or beams of light are reflected
after striking a surface (such as water).<\/p>\n

a subject or object is reflected
(on or upon) when bright or polished.<\/p>\n

dazzled with this greater light
I would reflect mine eyes.<\/p>\n

from under the surface of a lid
a thin membrane is reflected.<\/p>\n

from the same root as deflected.
to cast back or cause to return.<\/p>\n

a mirror returns a countenance.
her beauteous form reflected clear.<\/p>\n

the air thickens into clouds.
a family of swans reflects whitely.<\/p>\n

an abundance of light reflecting.
from a white and glittering surface.<\/p>\n

the first five flight feathers of a swan\u2019s
wing are most prized for making quills.<\/p>\n

to write. or shed light (on or upon).
to pen a reflection. from the Latin.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

penna,<\/em> meaning feather. light as.
a pen, a female swan is also called.<\/p>\n

basking (in a reflected glory).
bending (the legs). (now obsolete).<\/p>\n

from the same root as inflection.
to bend inwards. a modulation.<\/p>\n

the pen reflects her splendid neck.
to preen her ruffled wing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

J. R. Carpenter<\/strong> is an artist, writer, and lecturer in the School of English at University of Leeds.\u00a0The Gathering Cloud\u00a0won the New Media Writing Prize 2016.\u00a0An Ocean of Static\u00a0was highly commended by the Forward Prizes 2018.\u00a0This is a Picture of Wind\u00a0was listed in The Guardian\u2019s best poetry books of 2020 and featured in the\u00a0Digital Storytelling\u00a0exhibition at the British Library 2023.\u00a0Measures of Weather\u00a0was The Observer\u2019s poetry book of the month and a finalist for the Laurel Prize 2025. A new collection,\u00a0pause,\u00a0is forthcoming from Broken Sleep Books 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: \u00a9 Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries   bee me up talk to me about tender.are you blue from slender.are you bruised from under.or are you billowing bright.were you green this morning.or are you new to this leafing.hell bent. on sky filling.are you made of light.is this rain again.or a recent memory.and is this density.this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[376,436,440],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n2 poems - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13120\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 poems - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Image: \u00a9 Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries   bee me up talk to me about tender.are you blue from slender.are you bruised from under.or are you billowing bright.were you green this morning.or are you new to this leafing.hell bent. on sky filling.are you made of light.is this rain again.or a recent memory.and is this density.this […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13120\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T13:42:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-20T12:07:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Image-12.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"J. 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