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Freak Phenomena

Jane McKie

Siphoned from their beds,
periwinkles crack open
on Beijing pavements;

storm-addled tadpoles
carpet downtown Kolkata;
red ants rain on Bonn.

Loose tongues spread the news:
the Second Coming, world’s end!
But what harbingers —

tiny, untarnished.


Jane McKie

from When the Sun Turns Green (Edinburgh: Polygon, 2009)

Reproduced by permission of the publisher.

Tags:

omens the future
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Jane McKie

Jane McKie is a poet and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh.  
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