Esther Morgan

Esther Morgan (1970- ) was born in Kidderminster, UK. After reading English at Newnham College, Cambridge, she worked as a volunteer at the Wordsworth Trust, which is where she started writing poetry. Being exposed to Wordsworth’s manuscripts gave her the confidence to develop her own poetic practice: “I began to understand that writing is a process in which the initial inspiration is worked on and developed, that even a poet as great as Wordsworth didn’t always get it right first time.”

What Happens While We Are Sleeping

Frost. Foxes. Owl-kill.

The wheel of stars.

Thundering lorries with somewhere

to get to by dawn.

Beads of dew forming

along the telegraph wires.

A red deer delicately eating

each closed tulip like a prayer.

— Esther Morgan