Category Archives: Poems

For years she sold cabbage. Red cabbage, green cabbage, Garlic and ginger, big white radishes, beetroot and celery – only certain kinds of vegetables – cut with a big knife on a board at the back of her stall. She … Continue reading →

I needed to know exactly where I was going. And then I remembered why. Always, going to new places, I gave you the grid-reference. You tracked me from base with your Daily Mail map. There is no longer any need. … Continue reading →

Days of long light, Here, between green hills, A place where water Names the stones and trees. Ancient harmonies sing from the rock – Keys of sparkling mica, quartz and schist. Opening out, the patterns of my mind Shift, slow … Continue reading →

The tide is running out on the beach of who I am. The sand is exposed to the sky. I feel the wind and the sun, the water and the cold. I am the ridges left my rippling water. 29 … Continue reading →

I want to know in my bones the earth I am. I want to pour myself into all the crevices like water. I want to be consumed by the fire, until only ashes remain. I want to be free, like … Continue reading →

Small steps climb high mountains. Eyebrows speak softly to storms 20 June 2002 (“What a poem leaves behind”, after William Stafford)

Twice I’d set out and turned back, afraid. I wanted to visit this god of the land. Town-bred timidity kept me on well-worn paths, but the third time I knew. I had to go on. Fascination drew me. Twisting and … Continue reading →

Nothing from the old – Is that what I’m to learn? That the old pages must be burned and I must step out new onto these harsh white spaces held only by the thin grey feint? Not held. But swinging … Continue reading →