Liberté, Égalité, Humanité
Thickened by the tired air
Sticky with ripened fruit
Slow, pitch black, distorted, stretched
Beyond recognition
These shadows of ours
Run out
Black rivers
Bleeding the last of summer’s heat
From our veins
Onto the misted ground
Into the thin air of autumn
Warmth no longer from within
We become reptilian
Bask on the cool stones
Of an empty beach
Where the skin-deep solar glow
Drains with the ebb tide
We hold the last of harvest gold
In our joined hands
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CLP 20/09/2019
Flicker reflected
Electric blue blur flashes
Seen or imagined?
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n.b. The iridescent colours of the kingfisher are so vivid that the mind struggles to register whether it has actually been seen. So bright the blue, so fast the flight of this agile bird against the greens of the river and bank sides, its fleeting appearance draws a gasp of astonishment and then a questioning of the senses. Thankfully the call of this bird is distinctive and therefore ears and eyes can combine to reassure the witness that it was indeed a kingfisher that zipped by.
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CLP 17/09/2019
Neatly bundled reeds
Cut to length, left out to dry
Thatch; grown in Norfolk
n.b. About 90% of thatching material used in the UK is imported. The renewable roofing material, best suited to the temperate climate of these islands, is that which is grown here in the same environment as the buildings it will sit on. The health and quality of the reeds to be used can also be assessed by the thatchers before purchase. However, ‘cheaper’ (lower priced) reeds are bought in from South Africa, a country struggling with a history of colonial resource exploitation and appalling housing issues in the townships, where these renewable materials might be better used locally rather than shipped off to the UK. The price will not reflect the true cost to the environment of long distance shipping, nor the loss of local resource to the producer country, nor the loss of skills and devaluing of the resource in England if reed growing for thatching is undercut by cheap imports – although Brexit’s impact on Sterling’s value may balance that up a little (as long as there are still reed cutters in business to supply the products),
http://www.norfolkreed.co.uk/pages/thatch.htm
CLP 16/09/2019
Too often tempted
To speak without thinking
Two breaths save me
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n.b. A lid to a pottery cremation urn found near North Elmham, “Spong Man” sits reflecting on a life long since lived. This piece of funerary art is dated from the early Saxon era, (3rd / 5th Century CE).
The image I have used of this ageless pose is available under the terms of a GNU Free Documentation license published by the Free Software Foundation.
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CLP 15/09/2019
Pure white at first light
Flicker in the grey, rise up
From emptied pasture
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n.b. Where two Devon Red cows had been seen each morning, (until this Wednesday), usually scratching at the wire protecting the young tree, a pair of doves were sitting. I saw them alight their perch and fly up into the dawn. They reminded me of the last of the cattle that once grazed here at Thornfalcon.
CLP 13/09/2019
I am tired
Words fail me
My brain fizzing
A blank screen
Seeking a signal
To no avail
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CLP 11/09/2019
Now gone with all else
Held in cloudy memories
Bottled and pickled
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n.b. The serious work has begun to collect the fruit, vegetables and crops from the summer. What must be gathered from the orchard floor and stored for winter; what can be collected from the vine and pressed; what can be cut from the plant and eaten fresh, or kept dry; what can be picked from the over-burdened trees and turned to juice, or pickled, or made to jams and chutneys; what can be best preserved frozen?
The stoves burn, jars are sterilised, temperatures carefully monitored; steam and sweetness fill the home. Hair tied back, aprons on while the heat in the kitchen turns us pink and sticky too during these long satisfying hours before labelling bottles and still warm pots and cleaning up in the company of curious wasps and to the buzz of frustrated flies.
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CLP 01/09/2019
Grass turned to hay bales
Turf open again to sky
Crows stalk the stubble
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n.b. The corvids leave the pasture in flower to other creatures, but as soon as the ground is clear they descend, spread themselves out, (respecting each others’ personal space), and start grubbing about searching for leather jackets and other insect larvae; anything tasty that just a few days prior was happy under the cover of the grasses.
CLP 27/08/2019
It is a little late in the year to make hay
Intense heat reduces to rain too frequently
Morning dew takes encouragement to lift
Cloud cover sitting like a cosy duvet on night-warmed bed has to be dragged off by the Sun
So the hours available to flick and line up the mowings are few
Time is short to bale and store
Interpreting the conflicting weather forecasts is a challenge
If it’s dry with hot Sun, the hay must be brought in now
We are on it
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CLP 26/08/2019
Morning’s welcome cool
Canvas sky hangs limp and pale
Ragwort bright as Sun
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CLP 26/08/2019
Voyage des Mots 