ELIZABETH OSMOND

Starling murmurations. A large flock of starlings fly at sunset in the Netherlands. Hundreds of thousands starlings come together making big clouds to protect against birds of prey. Photographer henk bogaard

STARLING’S LAW

Cardiac image

swirls and whirls

Iridescent wings

catching the last

evening sun

hypnotic shapes

transfix my dusk eye

Murmuration heard

as blood

fills the ventricle

LAUNCHED

too soon

before you were ready

we look at eachother through

perspex incubator doors

this is not an EVA

your mothership has departed

left you outside the airlock

and you can’t go back

Elizabeth Osmond is a neonatal doctor and a poet. Her work has featured in literary publications including Ink Sweat and Tears, Atrium, Public Sector Poetry and Alchemy Spoon and the Hippocrates anthologies. Her poetry has also featured in medical journals including Intima Journal and the Archives of Disease in Childhood where she wrote about the therapeutic benefits of poetry for reflection. She is interested in the intersection between art and science.

Twitter/X @bethosmond, Instagram @osmond_beth