Until I rampaged into womanhoodand found myself adrift on the sea of life, you were a gorse bush flaming through my childhood,golden, scented with coconut, alive. You were my harbour when I shipwrecked motherhood,a beacon when relationships capsized. You encouraged me to be cautious in my adulthood,and always try to see through another’s eyes. Your […]
Month: April 2025
As a Child Listening to Ella Fitzgerald
Satin and velvet tonesbroke through the crackleof a seventy-eight on my parents’ turntable,crooning and scatting like a flock of birds.Ella’s voice, a warm hug, skippingthe melody or drawing out emotion like the dripping strand from a spoonof honey.She bent and spun songs I’d heard delivered straight on the radio, dry,gave them souls and made them […]
Our Cherry Tree
Twenty-five years ago, the cherry tree in our garden was young and still quite small. We could see sky through lithe branches. Now our cherry tree is so tall she reaches out to touch the roof and taps on the gutter in stormy weather. Honeysuckle has crept up her trunk and covered her, so that […]
Time to Say Goodbye
February frost petals frozeonebyone, brittle tears of ice. Their shards pierced my heart,knowing that I had no partin your funeral, except I wrote a poem and read it out loud,proudto be your daughter. I blew my nose,tried to expel the bitter-sweet notesof Andrea Bocelli (not my choice) that reminded me that it was timeto say […]
Nocturne in Grey and Gold: Chelsea Snow
Artists capture fleeting moments,but their impressions might remain for ever. Thus we feel the chill of snow and night air.We’re drawn from here to there,towards warm light. The shadowy figure crossing the bridgeappears to stumbleor slip on the icy pavement,drunk perhaps.We cannot see his face,but he seems determined,late for an assignation, angry, seekingcompany, or is […]
Turnstone Sonnet
On such a day, to be beside the sea,immersed in seafoam rolling up the shore,and no one walking on the strand, just me,inhaling nature’s power, nothing more.Along the coast, the turnstones dip their beaksinto seaweed, fish bones and broken shells;like Sisyphus, they push and shove and tweakat pebbles brought in on the ocean’s swell.I’m not […]
Immersed
The music has the cadenceof a wind’s caress;it conjures up a far-flung sea,where blues fluoresce,salty waters lap endlesslyon fragments of ancientPersian tribes, inhabitedby turtles, gulls and terns.It carries an echo of stories,the creak of a wardrobedoor to a magical world,a princely name from childhoodfantasy. Dust and disquiet,drum beat and euphony,one note evolves into polyphony,floating in […]
Party Piece
The years roll back, forty, forty-four,to someone’s kitchen, somewhere in Dublin, where the cider’s flowing, there’s Guinness and more,guitars are tuned, and the girls are gathered in. We’re smiling, Rita and I, sitting on the floor,enjoying the music, voices rising and falling. It’s a proper session, everyone joins in,but it’s fallen quiet. “Come on,” someone […]
Dawn Chorus
Woken by the sound of birdsong,at first a distant tin whistle of a song,I pull on a sweater and step outside,where a pink and yellow colourwash creeps across the sky. When spring is almost at its peak,with blackbird, thrush and robin spilling music from their beaks,I can’t help but join in the joyful roundnow the […]
Fate
Am I a fool to want to float,to sail away on a leaky boat,exploring canals and rivers,trimming sails in squally weatheruntil I reach the estuaryand the freedom of the open sea?A mysterious cloud invokes my muse,questions the destiny I choose.What if I should lose my way?Then I will consult the sky: by dayI have the […]
writing in north norfolk 