(a response to Horace and Dryden’s Happy the Man)
Happy the woman whose body’s her own –
loosened
in moonstone sea foam.
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Happy the woman whose sweetest days
stroll with the tide’s roll,
calmly sway.
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Happy the woman who sings, jives,
sashays
in her own private cabaret.
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Happy the woman alone with her keys.
Her shoulders
ease. Hard won peace.
© Rosie Johnston
Picture 11126013, unattributed photograph, 20th century, image copyright Mary Evans / Old Visuals/Everett Collection
Rosie Johnston’s four poetry books are published by Lapwing Publications in Belfast, most recently Six-Count Jive in 2019. Off the Map is the title poem of her fifth collection, to be published by Lapwing in 2023. Her poems have appeared in Snakeskin, The Phare, London Grip, Culture NI, FourxFour, The Honest Ulsterman, Mary Evans Picture Library’s Poems and Pictures blog, Words for the Wild. Her poetry is anthologised by Live Canon, Arlen House, OneWorld’s Places of Poetry anthology, Fevers of the Mind and American Writers Review. She reads her poetry widely, most recently at Faversham and Gloucester Poetry Festivals. http://www.rosiejohnstonwrites.com
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