My Daughter is a Gannet by Rachel Burrows

My Daughter is a Gannet

With blue sea-eyes 

meticulously lined, 

and fixed on the horizon,

she soars above us.

The sun crowns her

flawless feathers -

a golden bequeathment.

Streamlined and focussed, 

she swoops and dives.

Cushioned from the impact,

and watertight,

she is greedy only for life

and her place 

on the cliff edge.

Rachel Burrows is a teacher based in Wiltshire. She writes for adults and children. Her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies including Northern Gravy, Tiny Wren, Write Out Loud’s Echoes, and is soon to appear in Broken Spine’s Rites and Trials and Hedgehog Press’ Taylor Swift and Other Unicorns. She has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions and was on the Cheshire Novel Prize Kids shortlist 2025.