Guest Poem by Wendy French

Wendy French's latest book Bread without Butter was published by Rockingham press in 2020. She now works in healthcare settings promoting the reading and writing of poetry. Her work at the UCH Macmillan Centre has spanned over 10 years and she now works with Audrey Ardern-Jones at the Maggie's Centre, Royal Marsden. With others she has edited and produced books of members' work this year.

Truth

The air asks the wind about the silence
it carries
and the wind scours the mountain
for a reply
but the mountain looks down
on the departing river
the river that carries the stone
to the fading sea’s edge
the stone does not speak
of the weight that it carries.
Silence likes you to ask it questions
because it knows there is no reply.

The child asks the teacher
What is silence?

When no one speaks the teacher says
but the child does not believe her.