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 […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
Cat Walk
I am the cat who walks by herself,still proudly practisingsocial distancing,a shadow on a garden fence. I purr as the spring sun strokes my fur,luxuriate in long grass,sniff flowers as I pass,camouflaged in bush and tree. My human wrangles with words,so I curl up on her lap,listening to each tap –until I fall asleep, twitching, […]
In Praise of Rosebay Willowherb
Wasteland and railway banksare aflame with rangy ranks of fireweeds. Neon pink spikeslight up ditches and dykes, seducing moths and bees,releasing clouds of fluffy seeds from ostentatious spires,spreading beauty in windborne fires. All the while their creeping rootsand rhizomes advance like troops, leafy shoots invade gardens, giving riseto cerise fireworks exploding in the sky. Kim […]
Between Speed Skating and Waitressing
We were chalk and cheesebut thick as thieves,haunting the ice rink together:bright smiles in the photo booth;cheese burgers and ice cream floats;sneaking in the bar underagefor rum and coke. We were young, and drunkon our own loveliness,maxi coats buttoned against icy air,dashing through the foyerwith cheeky grins and a waveat red-coated bouncers,embarking on a friendship […]
Kissing Beneath Wood Smoke and Stars
Those first kisses beneath wood smoke and starswill stay with us forever, exploding with capriciouspiquancy that still lingers, effervescent in our mouths.The drought had broken like an ocean wave,a tang of North Sea air, ice-cold and delicious,and all we wanted was to drown in our embrace,heartbeats echoing, rhythmic and auspicious,lost in wood smoke kisses, stars […]
Hold My Hand
You don’t need to make big gestures,spend all your money, hand me the moon,photograph or paint me in vivid pictures,or feed me exotic food on a silver spoon. As the Beatles sang in our distant youth,I want to hold your hand. You don’t have to pretend to understandevery single poem I’ve ever composed,take me on […]
This gift of poetry
is as precious as the new year’s rainreplaced by silent prayers of frosttempering trees with a white crust it’s as welcome as a new dawnof impossible colours, deep skywashed to breath-taking lucidity it’s the joy of low winter sunlighting up a butter-yellow aconitestill clenched fist-tight it’s the trees’ chill breathof leaf mulch, pine and barkand […]
Nellie
She was the waft of lavendergrowing by the front door,a squirt of lily of the valley,and the breezy scent of washing day. She was a little cockney sparrergreeting everyone by their moniker,trilling songs from the good old daysas she polished and flicked dust away. She was the rumble of her shopping trolleyon the broken pavements, […]
Just a Little Longer
With lips of frozen berries I blow a kiss to barren fields and hills, waving brittle leaves still gripped by my twiggy fingers gloved in mist. Just a little longer, I promise. My woody hollows agape, I watch the skies with moss-sculpted eyes adoring ice and snow while you search hedgerows for signs of spring. […]
Dreamless
It’s a dream that never comes to me: there is no blossoming chestnut tree, no garden of rioting summer blooms, not even a house with empty rooms. My childhood garden has no calm, no mother to rock me in her arms. Because it was so long ago, I search for it with heart of woe. […]
writing in north norfolk 