When the sun pours in soft spears
through the bare branches I remember the day we played tennis on
roller-skates. Arriving at the court, we kept them on our feet and
laughed. But then, in an unhurried trice, we were showered in sunbeam
javelins. The ball flickered as it snapped through gleaming shafts,
breaking none. This lambent light quietened the skirring of our
wheels and shocked our breathless glee into astonishment, into an awe
that stretched beyond youthfulness. Beyond even now, looking back. We
were solluminated. Rare sunlight had pierced us, revealing Nature's
wayward swerving – expanding the possible.
The above was my submission to a Made-Up Words competition hosted by English PEN last month. The brief was to write a poem (maximum 14 lines) or a piece of flash fiction (maximum 100 words) with a title that is a made-up word.
