J.L. Williams

J.L. Williams was born in New Jersey and studied the MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. She moved to Edinburgh in 2001. In September 2009 she journeyed to the Aeolian Isles to write a collection inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, Condition of Fire (Shearsman Books, 2011). Her second collection is Locust and Marlin (Shearsman, 2014). She is Programme Manager at the Scottish Poetry Library.

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Because You Are

You do not have to feel alone.
The trees will open their barks for you
and invite you into their heart.

There you become the substance of wood
ageing in circles and never suffering fear
of season's end, for trees
diurnal revolution – passing –
is triumphant and commensurate with change.

Enter the trees with your centre first
and your bones will follow
in harmony with the way of all things.

‘Because You Are’ from Locust and Marlin. © J.L. Williams. Reprinted by kind permission of the author and Shearsman Books, 2014.

J.L. Williams talks to the Scottish Poetry Library podcast about the nature of stone, the poetry of locusts, and just how spiritual she is.