Poems
Walking the Hawk
Published in Walking the Hawk
January is at its best -
damp and greyness
stroke my bones.
I climb through barbed wire
by the Darent surging foam,
frothing full mud
and we walk along the tufts
and earth of the bank,
along its ancient track.
On my hand,
close to my body,
a darkness of feathers -
talons own my thumb.
For a moment there is only
the hawk, the grey light, me.
A twig snaps underfoot
and he is away,
cast into the air.
This is the wolf of the sky
circling, restless.
He swoops and settles
on the limb of a beech.
I am walking on,
looking over my shoulder,
trying to pick his form
from the twist and clump of branches -
I am never out of his sight.
At the Trumpet Mender’s House
Published in Walking the Hawk
At the trumpet mender’s house
sound is not muffled
it is bold as the curve of the earth.
We wait,
while he searches through the strained air
for the right note. I am staring at a shelf of books -
you, a child, sit out of reach.
At the trumpet mender’s house
music is kept in jars on the mantelpiece
and tiny brass screws, the ones we lost
have found their way here.
This is where all the broken things come.
He threads raw voices back together,
cauterises leaking valves
while the embers
bristle in the fire place.
He cleans out the mouthpiece
that I encouraged you to fill with solos
and eases out the stubborn dent
of a child kicking
and refusing to come home.
The trumpet mender hands the trumpet back
after polishing the tarnished bell
until it shines.
Earth Mother
Published in nthposition
My children grow in flowerpots
with crocks of Gaudi mosaic,
volcanic glass. They thrive
on leaves from English autumns
dug around their stems.
Bamboo stakes teach them ritual,
the way to compromise,
guide tendrils along the wall.
They absorb acid rain,
Sahara drought and warfare,
surging radio waves.
The text of frontline reports,
explosions, spatter unfurling leaves.
They twist towards the light,
sap still rising, crack the boundaries
of their terracotta homes,
release scent of green and cordite
from strange blossoms.