I hear them through the chilling autumn mist,the muffled footsteps of returning souls;their heralds are the jackdaws and the crows. Before the sodden churchyard has been kissedby daylight skipping in between headstones,I hear them through the chilling autumn mist,the muffled footsteps of returning souls. The scarlet red of poppies will persist,although the blooms of summer […]
Category: Poems
A poem to sum up my feelings in this post.
Pivoting Peacefully
Pivoting peacefully from oneto another ghost from the past, I see life through different lenses: some bring regrets close uplike a microscope, and others distance me from memoriesI don’t want to forget. But then there’s the present: the poems waiting for me to write,the grandsons I want to see grow up, and I pivot towards […]
The Letter
The fragile paper almost torewith the pressure of her pen,ink blotting, words bleeding.So she wrote it out againon thicker vellum. The original words had fallenlike confetti from her hand – butwhen she copied them out,they did not express her emotion;they seemed flat. Heart fluttering with frustration,hand slick with perspiration,she focused on the punctuation;the final full […]
Quality Control
Clay is moist in their hands.They probe it with damp fingers,feel resistance until they simultaneouslythrow it on their wheelswith a wet thud. Percussion. The rhythm of the kick wheelgives them impetus to kneadand sculpt, and shapes emerge, breathingtogether with their creators,merging into a breeze. A windy symphony. Each pot has its maker’sfingerprints, though pots strivefor […]
Invasion
Among the roots of dying and dead trees,they creep, no fun these parasitic mutantsall feasting on decay. No friends are these;Armillaria are spored pollutants,the bogeymen of stumps, and oh, so potent.With eerie shapes and honey fungus breath,they’re saprophytes of dieback, rot and death,as white as ghosts, they haunt both branch and bark,and trunk and roots […]
A Poet’s Nightmare on Elm Street
Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep, or poetry will follow you. Light slices through darkness, where poets encounter the unexpected. Imagery lurks in corners of dreams like monsters underneath your bed. Elm Street might be shady but, like mushrooms, poems need darkness to sprout. And poets, there’s no point in cowering and […]
Lifting the last potatoes before first frost sets in
After weeks of rain, the allotments gleam;in a month or so they’ll sparkle with a frosty sheen. Groups of men huddle, boots covered in muck,cocking an ear as they lift them with a suck. It’s about time that they got down to workand, grabbing their buckets and trusty forks, they set off to their individual […]
A poem in Penstricken
I have a poem in the autumn issue of Penstricken, which is out today with the theme of Machinery, and is available to read on the website for free at https://ww.penstricken.com/machinery or to buy as a paper copy at https://www.lulu.com/shop/justin-alcala-and-robert-atkins-and-maggie-bayne-and-lesley-tarrant-belcourt/penstricken-4-machinery/paperback/product-rmr75dv.html?q=machinery+penstricken&page=1&pageSize=4 My poem, entitled ‘Any More Fares Please?’, is on page 83. I hope you check […]
Ilse
As much as dill and pickled cucumbers,it’s the cherries that I remember most,growing on two trees outside my window,dark red, fragrant and so sweet. I remember, too, the blossoms every spring.As well as dill and pickled cucumbersin huge jars lined up in the cellar,you preserved cherries in alcohol for winter. From the fresh cherries that […]
Haunting Aimlessly
The antiquities museum is bereftonce all the visitors have left, until October moonlight breaksthe darkness, shaking halls awake. He sits upon a muzzle-less horse,the rider’s lost his head of course. He cannot ride, dismount or stand,he has no legs, feet, arms or hands. Moon-bathed they start to come alive,horse and rider spectrally strive to canter […]
writing in north norfolk 