i.m Lindsay Rimer
Those memories
of sun-kissed summer days
chugging along past leafy banks,
fussy moorhens, bored swans
and the occasional stern heron,
make us forget darker truths;
the lonely nighttime towpaths,
the creepy predators
and sometimes,
a young girl, murdered,
dumped in the water,
a large stone placed
to hold her down.
I’m remembering a girl,
barely a teenager,
Hebden Bridge, 1994.
Still talked about,
her killer still not found.
Tonnie Richmond lives in Leeds, loves Orkney and archaeology, and has had many poems published. Her pamphlet, Rear-view Mirror, was published by Yaffle’s Nest in 2023.