Out of the belly of time the old becomes the new…
Through the leaves the shadowy susurrus moo’s
of cows long gone on a cooling breeze
a congregation of laptops in ordered pews
ready for Wi-Fi communion to send receive
images and words far beyond this once milking parlour
Though I saw one stabled cow on the way in met by those
lowering eyes, Annalee’s outstretched hands, rows of books
ordered by Dewey ready to reap secrets from me

The above is the first stanza from Dorothea Smartt’s guest response to Vasco Araujo’s Debret collection, which took the form of a poem for this week’s addition to the Fresh Milk Books Tumblr – the online space inviting interaction with our collection in the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

For new Critical. Creative. Fresh reviews every week, look out for our #CCF Weekly  and see the good reads we have available at Fresh Milk!

About Dorothea:

Dorothea Smartt is a poet, live artist and literary activist. Her work may be viewed in Out of Bonds, RED: Contemporary Black British Poetry and Ship Shape, a collection Carole Boyce Davies describes as “blues-y, well crafted poems…reveal a poetic intelligence…maturity of form and content […] the best of her generation…”