SS Suppression

Although only in her early 30s, Caroline Bird published her fifth poetry collection, In These Days of Prohibition (Carcanet, £9.99) last year, having published her first at the age of 15. Her precocious talent has grown and deepened, and now, with her latest, she tackles mental health and addiction with humour and insight. “SS Suppression,” taken from In These Days of Prohibition, uses “an unexploded warship” as a metaphor for the dangers of censoring your inner self. Bird reads at the Scottish Poetry Library on Thursday 7 June at 7pm (£12 / £10).

An unexploded warship sits on my seabed, each dissolving day hardens the risk: new cracks appear in the hull, stripping the vessel to its naked cargo. Waves tremble. Fish play Chicken. Anything could blow it – one glance of a snorkeler’s flipper.

Or time alone, no reason, like blurting a secret. Ignore a bomb long enough, it’ll learn self-release. Port authorities repeat: doing nothing is not an option for much longer.