This strangely cocooned life is dominated by reflections. Just months ago, we still had visions. All we see now is on a TV screen and framed by windowpanes. Without us, life goes on. Clouds drift, a bird flies by, a flower blooms while we reflect in our shrinking rooms. Will the cloud, the bird, the […]
Category: Poems
Writing on the Wall
I suppose you think I do this all the time, the rest of the graffiti really isn’t mine. The corona virus has me out of my mind bored, and the best thing I could find on my way out for my daily walk was this stubby piece of chalk. I considered hopscotch but there’s no […]
April is a Fool
April’s entrances are never the same, peek-a-boo is her favourite game. Some years she has played the fool and surprised us with snow, or she’s been cruel, raised our hopes with a taste of sunshine, and then showered us with torrential rain. This year, March pre-empted her, keeping us inside our homes while April was […]
Little Toy Engine
A little toy engine sits on my shelf, It isn’t mine. I didn’t buy it for myself, It was part of a birthday present for a special boy, a battery-run, magnetic, self-propelling toy that was meant to pull its wagons round a track. It didn’t work and I had to bring it back. A replacement […]
Lips
I was never one for painting my lips red, although I sometimes fantasised in bed about a scarlet slash against white teeth tempting you to meld our lips and breath, a colourful seduction in a bed gone quiet. But then I realised that instead of a riot of thrashing limbs and pounding chests we both […]
Personal Hero
The only flesh and blood I see each night and morning, who I can still embrace and kiss his funny fuzzy face, leaves the house early each day. He’s not what you’d call a life saver, he’s not on the front line, but his contributions are real, helping the country stay warm, boil kettles and […]
Not Quite Empty City
Once, the constant backing track of traffic and city noise drummed in an ever-present hum. Streetlight haloes fixed glimpses of homebound faces as they passed, in shop windows and bus-stop glass. Now, there is no more morning haul or night-time crawl of onomatopoeic pedestrians and their quirky, jerky stop-and-go. Below deserted bridges, the river laps […]
Restricted View
From the window and in the confines of the garden, I watch spring advance. Willow buds and almost-blossoms dance on the breeze, promising abundance yet to come. High above in the heavens are black smudges of distant ravens, harbingers let loose among vernal festivities. Stuck alone within these walls, but blessed with flowers, hedgerows and […]
The Clarity of Lunacy
Dark clouds lift and take my soul; daytime solitude, taunted by spring sun and blossoms, fades into clair de lune, madness hugs and kisses the moon, her friendly face the soft pale blue of porcelain glaze. I stand at the window and gaze at a night-blackened empty street, no cars pass, no people strolling by, […]
Silvered
After nearly two weeks within these walls, and even more to follow, with only walks around the garden, how long can claustrophobia be suppressed? I write poetry in pyjamas, no reason to get dressed until I open the back door to spring sunshine, to hang out washing, feed the birds, pace around the willow chanting […]
writing in north norfolk 