Blackthorn is muscular all year flexing macho bones angles points but in May blackthorn turns transvestite all froth of frocks all bridal bright all frilly and all lady-like all May Ball Queen in petal white From Fiona Owen, O My Swan (pamphlet, out of print).
Prayer Poem Dear precious flesh, frail and needy, this is a prayer for you. You, the lit candle who drips your wax and burns your length of wick, your light both tenuous and tenacious – You, prey to the umpteen plagues, to draughts and gales from the four quarters – Know yourself, at this moment, … More Poem for us all at the time of Covid-19
out in the chill day ivy is green gloss vigour – hold to the heartwood
poetry of rain – words like leaves have swirled all day scattered by the gale
Noting how winter is like gravity, pulling – the last leaf yields
Night’s wind whistling. Here’s Bethlehem olive wood – protect the heart-space
It’s getting windy. We draw the curtains early – cultivate the flame.
pond’s spent bulrushes – wild wintering nourishes the fabled lotus
naked mulberry thicket of criss-crossing words – one week to go
stripped back to the bole April’s pink staining the wood – wintering cherry
