Kestrel
Heatwave ends today
Morning rainstorm, break cover
Brown graze of feathers
..
Cattle Egret
(Cattle egret from a distance.)
Intricate weaving
Across a loom of late grass
Egrets thread cow herd
Apricot hair comb
White feather boa, black silks
Fine for a field day
A line of cattle
Punctuated by white birds
Full stop, comma, dash
..
Sparrows
From the hedgerow, flee!
A flock of fast sparrows flaunt
The field’s dry despair
Long-Tailed Tit
Notes ring, raindrop song
Through wet boughs ten long-tailed tits
Sing sweet harmonies
Grey Heron
Three grey herons fly
Grey flags over grey rooftop
Fanfare for new life
..
The Summer Seagulls
This year, two gull chicks
Speckled pebbles on the ground
By factory door
You sent me photos
Each week, while seagulls watched them
Turn to grey goblins
Shrieking banshee birds
Surviving the heat, the dry
To fully fledge and fly
Summer seagulls swoop
Overhead. Their cold cry cuts
Goodbye, goodbye, Bye!
Drawing Parallels
We draw parallels
Emphasising the differences
Between each other
Better than or worse than
Underlining our egos
Draw only one line
With all your heart
Empty of comparison
Then you will be
Unparalleled
Dusk, December 16th 2025
Fae Morgana lifts her veil
O’er the moor and river
And the sunset’s golden crown
Bejewelled with starlings, glitters
Above the western hill
Where the staff was planted
As dusk creeps across the lawn
And blackbirds call and answer
Notes:
The first poem was written as a reminder to myself that, in my creative practices, I need to be true to myself even if it brings in negative criticisms. It occurred to me it can also apply more widely to our humanity and our interactions with others.
Fae Morgana: Fairy Queen of Avalon. Her veil is the mist rising from the local Glastonbury landscape.
The planted staff in the poem refers to the local legend of Joseph of Arimathea and the Glastonbury Thorn.
The sum of this year’s sunshine laid down in the weight of hedges
A luxury of space for art from when the summer was younger
The push-rich jump to the front of the queue for a penny treat
Newly-minted linen and leather bound
Shades throwing shade
White butterflies over a palette of green while the whelk watches
At the end of the garden, listening to the ailing ladies
All aches under endless, faultless blue skies
The hatted salmon lattes, breakfast eaten at the gallery
Inside the sculptures are stopped
The frozen grin of a deer skull
Dead tree
Old wheels unspun
Where did you dance when the summer was younger?
Notes
I wrote this poem in 2025, then mislaid it and then stumbled across it today. The feeling of summer heat seems pertinent this year, with heatwave after heatwave and having to retreat indoors to escape the sun.
Whelk: Marine mollusc with a spiral shell (archaic: a boil)
Welkin:The sky
