Living Things

Juice bursting on fingertips 
attracting flies solidifying in wrinkles that 
stretch taut over bone. 

Moving things walking 
things talking things that remember. 

If you walk along a path 
between forest and shore 
between grains eroded by the sea 
they were mountains once 
between silken strands that stretched  
beyond their crouched form beneath the earth 
you can breathe it all in.  

The clouds that gather  
like mighty flocks and herds  
moving to the music we may not hear  

Miriam Ashford (born 2001) is a poet, performer and Classical Studies graduate of
King’s College London. She lives in London and has facilitated poetry and drama
workshops with SPID Theatre encouraging young people to engage with the
importance of Third Places and was commissioned by The Free Association blog
‘Improv in Real Life’ to share this experience. Her work explores nostalgia, emotional
well-being and the restorative beauty of natural spaces.