Even Though You Are Where You Love

and your past is a shining whirlpool
that you keep to remind yourself
of all you’ve left behind

some days you still hear
that voice whispering
‘Off you go’

And you see yourself running
just for the loose speed of it
for the pulse of your heart
that keeps up, under a clear sky

for the springy grass
beneath your feet, the tilting fence
seen from the corner of your eye

Joanna Ezekiel lives in York. She is an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Open University, won the 2012 Rydale Competition and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. This poem is from her second full collection Homecoming (Valley Press), currently available from theguardian bookshop. She has ridden on a camel twice, although not the same camel.