Mantra to protect all children
“this is a mantra to protect tiny breathing holes / stopped by the spittle and mucus of a kiss, / for birdcage ribs of meerschaum against the press / and squeeze of bones”
Claudia Daventry is a confused European whose grandfather got his name from her great-grandfather Schnackenberg, who stole it – once he landed safely in England – from a radio mast he liked. She was born in London, is also a bit Scottish and Irish, studied French and Spanish in Oxford and lived and worked in Paris and Barcelona before moving to Amsterdam – which she left with her three daughters (and a Dutch cat) for St Andrews, Scotland, where she now lives and writes. Her work has won various awards including the International Bridport Prize, and has appeared in several reviews and anthologies including The Dark Horse, The Irish Literary Review, The Island Review, Poem and Poetry London as well as at the Commonwealth Games and the JAM music festival as libretto commissions. She wrote a contributing canto in ottava rima for the Modern Don Juan by Divers Hands. Her solo chapbook, from Templar, is The Oligarch Loses His Patience.
“this is a mantra to protect tiny breathing holes / stopped by the spittle and mucus of a kiss, / for birdcage ribs of meerschaum against the press / and squeeze of bones”