Colin Herd

rope

a close-up of the cliff edge.

michael’s gone for ice cool

plum. there’s a sparse little

tuft of grass, and a faint

sliver of lichen.

a hand tentatively grasps

its way into the shot, with

dirty finger nails. orangey

dirt. it helps to lever his

head into view, with matching

helmet and grey-black straps.

he sighs deeply, like gargling.

you see two other people quite

a bit further down, looking up.

one in blue and one in red, letting

out more rope from a pulley.

as the rope goes through the

clip, its whinney out-castratos

the wind.

the top guy clips a carabiner

onto a nut and starts pulling up

the rope. he looks round at the

two below and gives them a

thumbs up. they start to relax.

Colin Herd was born in 1985. His first book 'too okay' was published in 2011, and a chapbook came out the same hear called 'like' (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press). Poems, reviews and articles have been published in a wide range of digital and print publications including Jacket2, Shampoo, HTMLGIANT, 3:AM Magazine, Chroma, Aesthetica and Mirage #4/Period(ical).