The tureen is porcelain and deepand filled with thick and creamy soup.The scent is spicy and aromatic,the colours vivid and chromatic,with orange carrot and butternut squash,silver onion, green celery, a red flashof chilli flakes in a constellation,and floating planets of crunchy crouton.The ladle sits in its shiny groove,waiting for one of us to make a […]
Month: October 2023
Deep Pockets
‘Mother, why do we have to get up in the dark?’ my daughter whispered. I had warned her to be a mouse, to creep and stay silent. We didn’t want to be caught by the Witchmaster. I wore my skirt with deep pockets and filled them with bread, cheese and sachets of my special herbs […]
Five oak trees point the way
(i)Look out for magpies,five on my silver birch,they will laugh at youfor a while, untilyou have counted them all. (ii)Listen for the sound of acornsfalling and bouncingacross the roadwhere five oak treespoint the way. (iii)Follow the aromaof freshly brewed coffeefrom the pubin the bend of the road –it opens at five. (iv)Don’t forget to stroke […]
Breaking the Back of It
It’s taken a long time to break its back,I’ve been lost many times on its lonely track.When young, from the distance it looked like a ridge;the closer I get, the more I need courage.It used to be verdant and dotted with flowers,a place I could dream about in quiet hours,but now it’s precarious with rockfalls […]
Once it was the Colour of Dreaming
Once it was the colour of dreamingthat filled the sky with countless stars;while other girls spent their youth in barsI would watch the cosmos streaming.Submersed in the soft light of the moon,exploring her face, its perfections and its scars,I whistled along with owl and nightingale.Oblivious to time, the morning came too soonand the colour of […]
writing in north norfolk 