BIRD ON A REED

 

A reed moves

Under a bird’s meagre weight

The reed disturbs the calm water

Ripples echo outwards

Across the lake

Flat calm on a balmy eve

Each ripple expands out

And with each inch it grows

It stretches and diminishes

Until it is no more

Until another bird settles

On another reeds stem

I WANT TO LIVE

 

I want to live

Where you can see stars

In the night sky

And it actually gets dark at night

 

I want to live

Where the riverbanks

Are grass and reed

And the dominant colour is green

 

I want to live

Where the animals

Outnumber cars

And I know all my neighbours by name

 

I want to live

An idyllic country life

In a village or on a farm

In a chocolate box paradise

GOOSED

 

The snow geese

In a massive flock

Take flight in unison

Filling the whole sky

Like clouds of white smoke

Billowing up from unseen fires

Rippling across the sky

As far as the eye can see

Almost blocking out the sun

So begins the migration

BENEATH AUTUMNAL SKIES

 

Beneath autumnal skies

The suns strength diminishes

With each passing day

Then foliage turns slowly

From green to gold

And finally, to red and brown

Before fluttering to earth

The gentle late summer breezes

Make them dance

And when breeze turns to raging storm

They’re sent swirling

As if court in some frenetic snow globe

The lucky ones escape this chaos

And ends their short lives

Trapped Beneath hedgerows

Or blown into quiet corners

The rest whirl like dervishes

Hither and thither

Until the winter rains

Turn them to mush under foot

OCTOBERNESS

 

Misty mornings

Start dim and dismal

Penetrating Dampness

Seeping into your bones

Some days it brightens later

Enough for shirtsleeves

Then when darkness falls

Curtains are drawn

At the months beginning

Grass is still growing green

The trees are well covered still

Then leaves turn green to yellow

Yellow is burnished to gold

Gold to burning red

Then red to earth

Beyond the equinox

Days have already become

More dark than light

Before the clocks fall back

And the sun sets sooner

Days of sunshine deceive

Sheltered pockets warm and confuse the senses

In the later days

When the residual warmth diminishes

The bite remains

To herald worse to come   

I DO NOT LIKE THAT

 

As by way of a general ruling

I have made this to be my doctrine

To dislike, distrust or fear

Any creature meeting these criteria

Anything with more limbs than I

Anything that moves faster than I

Anything with scales or feathers

Anything surviving extreme weathers

Anything having more teeth than I do

Any creature covered in goo

Anything that growls and grunts

That isn’t engaged in sexual stunts

Anything with claws and talons

Anything that drools by the gallons

Anything that’s excessively hairy

Any creature whose eyes are starey

Anything that bites or stings

Anything that uses wings

Anything with horns or armour

Anything with an aggressive demeanour

Anything too small to see

Anything that’s bigger than me

If you think of anything I've missed

Then I will add them to the list

BARK

 

Their whole life

Is etched into the bark

The trunks wear their story

To be read with the eye

Or touched like brail

Cracked and weathered

Like the face of an old mariner

Showing what was

And what is still

It protects like a pachyderm’s hide

It’s the first line of defense

Against any aggressor

Then when the tree falls

It’s the last to die