The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Clarke, Gillian. “Wings.” A Recipe For Water. (Carcanet Press, 2009).

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

Clarke has defined poetry as "word music that gathers something into a very colorful phrase which has reverberations." This emphasis on sensory imagery appears in her poem "Wings" as well as throughout her body of work. "Wings," which consists of four quatrains, describes the speakers fear upon waking in the middle of the night. Nighttime bends the usual rules of space and time, allowing the speaker to consider the way that she and her partner move through their lives together.

"Wings" was originally published in Clarke's 2009 collection A Recipe For Water, which centers on themes of ecological celebration and Clarke's Welsh heritage. In 2010, she was awarded the Queen's gold medal for poetry in recognition of A Recipe for Water as well her entire oeuvre.