back against a chariot of stars
moon-belted drouthy tollbooth far
free like urchin-spiked drunken bracken
my love for you this glass won't slacken
light of primal fire & slick wax
I wet my lips, dip the nib back
scythes reap, sip ballads of barley
gold beneath our breath calmly
inspire, respire, spiro, spiritus soars
palm to palm in ritual
of fruit peel & petrichor.
-Janette Ayachi
Janette Ayachi (1982 - ) BA (English Lit. / Film Media, Stirling University) MSc (Creative Writing, Edinburgh University) is a Scottish-Algerian poet. She’s a regular on BBC arts programmes & she collaborates with artists & performs at festivals internationally. Her poetry, prose & essays have been published & translated into a broad range of newspapers, magazines & anthologies. Her first poetry book Hand Over Mouth Music (Pavilion, Liverpool University Press) won the Saltire Poetry Book of the Year Literary Award 2019 & QuickFire, Slow Burning (Pavilion, LUP) was shortlisted for The Laurel Prize & for Scotland’s National Book Awards 2024. She’s now writing her travel memoir Lonerlust & her debut fiction novel Sweet Figs.