Concourse

: How happy am I? Drinking in summer, Feeling my swelling fruitfulness! Swaddled in a glossy shell And a dense coat of prickles. I am invincible! : You? I see you walking the busy concourse Where five parkland paths connect. Always alone. Longing to connect with a certain man you see, But you let him … Read more

DIGITAL EXCLUSION

: Please don’t put me on hold I know the score I hang on for fifteen minutes and then the line goes dead You don’t want to deal with me I hear those messages about going to the website But I’ve been there already I know the answer to my query is not there I … Read more

On Edge

I entered a poetry competition which required an “ekphrastic poem”. This is a poem inspired by a work of visual art. I enjoy going to galleries and art exhibitions of all types, but I have my favorites. Impressionism and Expressionism are really colorful, which appeals. I also like classical “still life” featuring flowers or fruit. For … Read more

Beech

Let me lie In your spread copper skirts. Let me feel your toes sucking Sugar and spice from the chalky loam. Let me caress Your sculpted grey limbs, And bask in the smell Of your strength. Sway your arms in dance With the murmuring breeze, Shake the jewels in your waving hair! Let me bathe … Read more

Bondig Bank

In the sweet warmth of summertime I wait to watch the men from the monk’s lair. Low bushes and rushes hug the riverbank And the fields are full of stools of willow Sprouting dense, vigorous rods That sway and clack in the breeze. Here come the lay-brothers Rowing across from the stone place, Plain caps … Read more

A Dirty Nuisance

Staff of life that gave Wycombe its name,Drawing Britons and Saxons to live by it.In 1965, the council built a road over it. Rising in Radnage, it flows east –Feeding the glorious water features where the Dashwoods sit.In 1965, the council built a road over it. From the Domesday Book to the 1970s,Corn mills, cloth-fulling … Read more

From Thame to Great Hampden

I lift one sore foot from the stony road My boot is hot and heavy I put it down and lift the other I must keep in time with the drum beat. The track wends through fields Ripening grain waving in the breeze And orchards laden with black Bucks cherries May the war pause long … Read more

A plea from a bee

Some years ago, I nurtured a coastal garden, trying to find hardy plants that would attract bees. My greatest successes were rampant “Hotlips” salvias and a vigorous ivy. The hum of the bees in late autumn as they arrived in great numbers to drink from the ivy flowers was just lovely. Traditional rhyming poetry is … Read more

Leaf

I am fortunate to live near woods and walking under new leaves in Spring is magical. Each one of them is precious. This poem is dedicated to a horse chestnut leaf. There is something very bold about how they come into the world. Most of the mighty horse chestnuts I see these days seem to … Read more