Poetry by Lynn Valentine

                ryangs CC



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​Genetics of Depression

The bees came to me in that sweat-hell sleep after the first vaccination,
they wanted me to tell them things but I wouldn’t—I’m not giving
you up—I refuse to carry that stick to the hive. So it’s me and the bees
in this half-land of headaches waiting for the week to be done.

The brim of sky makes my brain tear, even the weather is undecided;
a yellow apple of sun squatted on the sea at 6 a.m. and now the mist is in,
cobwebbing everything. Did our ancestors lay themselves out for sky burials
of their own choosing? Did sisters go together? Did they have bees to tell?




Lynn Valentine is working towards her debut poetry collection which will be published by Cinnamon Press in April 2022, after winning their Literature Award. She has a Scots language pamphlet out with Hedgehog Poetry Press, after winning their dialect competition. Lynn was one of five ‘North’ poets to be commissioned by the Scottish Poetry Library as part of their Champions project 2020. She is widely published in places like Atrium, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Northwords Now and Poetry Scotland