Footprints in the snow

Eastern ashes astir aglow As new moon lips mouth morning’s breeze The arc then melts like springtime snow Unshackling Earth from night-time’s freeze. Nocturnal creatures can’t be caught By hieroglyphs to leaf-lined lairs Their secrets safe in shadows short Billowing steam in sunbeam snares. By…

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Foz

Foz is from Somalia.  She steers my mother slowly across the care home lawn. A ship of state adrift on a sea of green.  “Here are my two favourite girls,” I call from the shade of the arbour. Because if I wasn’t jolly I’d cry. …

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Still Life

Shackled by time slippers shuffledStooped to the high-backed seatQueen throned, grey crown ruffledPrince and Princess at her feet  The Prince takes a marbled handBut a child’s touch cannot reach beyondTheir birth to a foreign land To retrieve lost memories fond In her realm time and place…

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Please make your selection…

Guinness, lager, shandy, coke(You can go your own way)Wisecracks, quips and sexist jokes(Go your own way)“This chair taken? No feel free!”(You can call it another lonely day)“Your shout Dave I need a pee.” Please make your selection… Fleetwood Mac then Britney Spears(Sometimes I run)Singles, doubles,…

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Vespula vulgaris

Cherry blossom and Coreley church

Paper lantern queenYour subjects crawl on their kneesNo sting in the sun. For me the soundtrack of the first lockdown was the bumblebees feasting on the nectar in the blossom of our cherry trees. It’s a different kind of buzz this time round as we…

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Autumn

Colour-eating cloudWest wind-stacked silver strataFading green to black I love the easy discipline of Haiku. Just three lines: the first of five syllables; the second of seven; and the third back to five. It’s the sort of poetry you can write anywhere anytime you have…

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Mother’s Day

Dear Mum  You didn’t like people making a fuss of you. So you weren’t a big fan of Mother’s Day.  Before it all became what you disdainfully called Americanised, I do remember me and my sister bringing you breakfast in bed. Dad was in on the…

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