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 […]
Tag: earthweal
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 […]
On the Brink
In these final fading days, we are still entangled in the tattered threads of the old year, teetering on the brink while clinging to our hopes and fears. We take them with us as we lurch into the future, where we build our nests anew, weaving old threads with new, ready to sing our spring […]
From Raindrop to River to Sea
It starts with a perfect drop of rain falling from a cloud – and the future arrives just as water, rippling the stillness of a pond, releasing mayflies, dragonflies, and herons that flap their wings like broken umbrellas against spring rain. The gorged river glints, powerful and steadfast on its intrepid journey to the coast, […]
winter woodland
now is the time to explore you in misty light so low you become one inky shadow birch, ash, beech and oak let go of leafy glamour long ago abandoning piles of copper and gold now your copses are barefaced and bold your glimmering gnarly branches hold mulchy aromas of moss and fungus I long […]
Flipped
It was a raging sea-magic kind of day, with thunder clouds and wind-whipped waves that made us mermaids forget salty witches. Oblivious to consequence, caught up in the rumpus, we anticipated handsome seamen snatched by squalls from a schooner’s deck, combed out the tangles in our waist-length hair and spread our glistening fish-tails on a […]
Missing the Point
From mid-autumn until the end of winter,each day begins and ends with night,not morning’s gentle lightening or splinterof tea-time twilight, although sunsetstill kaleidoscopes in clear October skies.We live from day to day: wake up,rise and read about incessant liesover the rim of a tea or coffee cup.Then it’s time to catch a bus or train,ignoring […]
Waiting for the Wind
The sky above the fields is patched with clouds; the pale and wild blue yonder gapes through ragged holes, wrestling with purple mist to peep, making promises it may never keep. All the while, the green hill’s spine is stretched out on the far horizon, where it meets with heaven smiling at the steadfast grass […]
Cheese on Toast
I remember when we used to walk hand in hand along a sandy road that led to North Sea dunes, so deep into the night the lights had gone out in all the houses; we were guided by a sky full of stars and every time the moon disappeared, a nosy neighbour behind a curtain […]
March
My legs, leaden with a long winter’s sloth, awaken with a tingle and I begin to fidget, eager to walk, to work the stiffness off. At crack of spring, blackbirds and finches scoff loudly in the woods – a feathered quartet to rouse legs leaden from long winter’s sloth. Marvelling at the delicate hazy growth, […]
writing in north norfolk 