Isabel Bermudez: January, Mortlake, Shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition 2012

Isabel Bermudez: January, Mortlake, Shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition 2012

Shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition 2012, Isabel Bermudez was born in Bogota in 1968 and grew up in London. Her poetry has been shortlisted in a number of competitions including the Bridport Prize, and published in a range of magazines. She also writes short stories. Read Bermudez’s poem January, Mortlake published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual 2013.

January, Mortlake by Isabel Bermudez

Girls with tee-shirts have second-guessed the spring,
in a flutter of lipstick and short skirts crowding the bus stop
on the High Street where three red buses come at once.
It may be over all too soon, as a gust pulls at the buds;
winter is clinging on like a grandmother; hair on her chin
with holes where her cheeks were, in a long cardigan, not opening the door.
But the year will hold its course and winter slip away; a frozen passing
in plastic carrier bags that clothe the trees down by the brewery,
in scarves, hats, old shoes and gloves washed up on the towpath
and white gulls on the river that suddenly have the look of new souls.

There’s still time to enter your poetry or short fiction into the Creative Writing Competition 2013. Prizes include publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual, £500 prize money and a selection of books from Vintage Books and Bloodaxe Books. Deadline for entries is 31 August: www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting

Credits
1. Sarah Shaw, Monolith V, Painting and Drawing Category, Aesthetica