Agoraphobia confined him to the house,a single street and the wireworks walls,where he laboured, picking up on the solesof his shoes shiny nuggets of copper. A creature of habit, home for dinner at oneand tea at five, he exuded the tang of toiland lingering smoke of Navy Cut onhis breath and the fabric of his […]
Tag: Sonnet
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 […]
The Rooks of Rapture
The moon, like a cataract in the eye of night, casts her milky tract of light on a rookery of nests; their twiggy bulks seem to rest in the fingertips of branches. Below, the night’s chill breath petrifies fierce arum spears still clenched tight like fists where death has left its earthy taint among bits […]
Spring Spillage
The day had gone from rainback to bright and dry again,and so we ventured out. So many hues among the greenof fresh new buds and leafy sheen,it made me want to shout out loud, when suddenly the firstbutterfly seemed to burstout of a leafy cloud, not primrose or even daffodil,but the colour of an accidental […]
An Easter Love Sonnet
Yours is the face I see when I awake,its slumber-toasted skin is pillow-creased,a welcome comfort to the nightmare achefrom which I have been recently released. You stir – and in that moment I must smile,the naked truth of your expression slaysmy fragile heart and I must sit a whilepondering fond memories of days and nights […]
A Spring Sonnet
Golden spring, you inspire me to write.The way you pierce, renew and burstinvades my thoughts all day and night,weaving itself into lines of verse. I could compare you to a gentle larch.You are more fragrant, forgiving and fresh,though sudden frost may freeze buds in Marchand give me sudden shivers with its caress. How do I […]
First Bees of May
I watched a drowsy bee chewthrough its wintertime cocoonand emerge onto the edgeof a sunny window ledge.After a sullen start to spring,dandelions smile in grass.A dragonfly helicopters pastcherry and honeysuckle bowers,where flirty buds are burstingto unfold a flurry of pink flowersto bees, thirsty for heady sipsof pollen from dewy petal lips.That’s why a swarm of […]
Sensing October
I pull October from the mist,gather up the weavesafter the storm has tried to stripthe trees of blushing leaves. I wind them round my finger,the delicate wisps that lingerin fallen apples rottinginto cider scent, in dangling corpses of daddy-longlegsand dew-encrusted spider-webswoven in between red sunsetsand orange mornings. I untangle gossamer spanning timeand space to make […]
Brent Geese in Autumn
By mid-October, large flocks of dark-bellied geese grate and grumble across grey sky, ticking clouds with wings. They descend on the estuary and spend all winter pecking at eel grass and remains of corn. Their noisy nasal honks pierce autumn twilight like a foghorn, belying the beauty of their flight and the delicate embroidery of […]
Back to Base
I’ve been tuned in to the bassline of my every day, a solitude tuned so low it vibrates in my gut. Above white noise (or is it tinnitus?), the strident call of a crow and the pigeons’ throaty coos counterpoint a blackbird’s song: they have formed the baseline of my Covid day for so long […]
writing in north norfolk 