The end of year approachesand I am hunkering down, Avoiding the weak winter sun glinting offfrail filigree and dancing on the sparkling frost. Instead of opening advent doorsamid lighted candles and Yule trees, I look back at loved ones who disappearedfrom my life this year and cannot shake the loss. Come New Year, I must […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
Numbed by Numbers
I add up the digitsof the date of my birthand come to thirty,my year of agoraphobia. I add up the digitsof my daughter’s date of birthand come to twenty-four,my age when she was born. I add up the digitsof the date we got marriedand come to twenty-six,my age when I was snowed in. I add […]
So This Is Dilham
There are gulls between the goalson the village football pitch,tugging at lingering wisps of mist,their white wings stark against dirty green. They ignore the jackdaws, yinto their yang, pick at the last daisies,the ones that haven’t been squashedin mud, hoping for a tasty snack. No fish and chips here, too farfrom the coast, no shops […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Feeling October
October days are feeling softer,the day beginning with scarves of mist and dewdrops, the sky now grey and filled with raindrops and the leaves like chameleonschanging from green to yellow to orange to red.A fleet of tractors rumbles up the muddy road rattling the windows. First wood smokedrifts skyward with the chattering crows. Kim M. […]
Norfolk Paddle Songs
My paddle sings a song of gnarly bankside roots,of snagging water lilies and bulrushesof gurgling, drips and splashes. My paddle sings a song of stately swans,of graceful grebes and other waterfowl,of agile otters and shy water voles. My paddle sings a song of riverside pubs,of cottages, farms and windmills,of flat landscapes and a dearth of […]
writing in north norfolk 