Because her parents happened to be there at the time, Catriona Malan was born
in Dartmouth, Devon. However, apart from her first few months, she has spent
the rest of her life in Scotland, close to Loch Lomond.
Joining her local writers’ group gave her the stimulus to write both prose and poetry.
She has been published in Lines Review, Chapman, and in several anthologies.
She has won several competitions run by the Scottish Association of Writers,
and she has served as the President of the Helensburgh Writers’ Workshop.
Sample poem:
Love Affair With Mussels
They clacked, our kidnapped mussels -
barbered, bowl-bathed in strange water,
blue skins scrubbed
clean of the sea's licking -
as we tipped them into the pot
and watched them jostle in the bubbles.
On our bed the kicked sheet
was a cloth tide ebbing
while I clung to you
as our waves roughened,
as, breathless, we reached the shore,
your skin salty against my lips
and, beyond the blind,
the traffic's roaring.
We dashed the mussels'
gaping throats with wine,
doused them with parsley
which caught like cheerless
confetti on their saffron flesh
and stole from our mouths
the taste of each other.
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