Showing posts with label birdsong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birdsong. Show all posts

Friday, April 29

A Poem for Thursday








This poem has had a spring clean....some editing!
It amazing what a month or two of lying low can do for words.

The arrogance of birds...
or ...
The jealousy of ground dwellers.

Here's what you get for having a tree in your garden.
You get magpies and crows, wood pigeons and robins,
 Who perch on the very top branch in an April morning
When the mellowness of Spring mists are rising.
And they look down at the world around them
 Feeling superior to us below at ground level.
And that's what you get for allowing a tree
To reach its ultimate height...... apart from the oxygen.

...you can see more of my pics at instagram geraldinesnape

Tuesday, April 28

The Greening of Penketh.

The local council has set up a programme of tree planting here in Penketh...hooray!!...

We have been doing our own greening over the 34 years since we took over the land which belonged to Greenalls the brewers.

Then it was used as an unofficial tip...dumping ground for old bikes, prams, wooden windows and shattered glass....awful.

Below is the birch stand we started to plant as each member of our family was born.

Now there are eleven...and probably no more until the grandgirls...all five...add to the numbers...one day!!!

Each April I watch the greening of the birch grove and marvel at the soft green leaves as they develop.

Monday, May 20

Sun up...Sun down...

Bird song...loud enough to wake the sleepiest...
...daylight creeping through the gap in the curtains earlier and earlier...
... and I creep out of the bedroom without waking the sleeping potter...
...down the creaking stairs...why do all stairways creak?...
...kettle on for a cuppa and a hottie...a hottie?...well I'm going out into the garden and traipsing down the field to the summerhouse with camera and book and a hottie just in case it's a wee bit chilly down there.
...snuggle up into a wicker chair with a  blanket 
tucked over my legs.......excellent...luxury....wonderful!

The sun is just rising at the front of the house and a mist has turned the trees to pale gold...


...six in the morning ...and all is well...


....and the sun makes it's way through the alleyway  where the sunbeams dance in the mistiness...


...soon the mist  dissapates and the old apple tree receives the strengthening sunbeams  
filling the path in the potter's allotment...


I settle down to listen to the birds...and watch them search for food in the dew washed grass...
...food to keep their progeny plump and happy.

The working day soon takes over 
and the garden is deserted.

But evening brings with it the western light...low in the sky...and a glimpse out of a window reveals another garden altogether...


...no mist here...
... the air is sharp for a May day this year... but that brings with it  hard light and long crisp shadows stretching along the grass.


...the blue of the bluebells seems almost iridescent in this light...
... May's foliage is soft and emerald green...
..the smell of the bluebells intoxicating..
...it draws me out..back down the path ...
...under the arch..
..into another world.

Thursday, February 23

A Poem for Thursday



A child's innocence about the death of a bird...
..." did it have a good funeral?...how many people went to it?...did you go grandma?....why not?...."
..."It was too cold!"...

So I wrote this for the poetry group at Clair's Cake Shop...

Death by Soap and Water.

Winter slopes by
and the windows
are dimmed with grit.
A rising sun
brings renewed energy
and soap and water works.

Each day more light
and the spirit soars.

How do the birds know
on a bitter January day,
that homes must be built
and partners encouraged?

Soap and water works
on grimey winter windows,
and the song of the birds
gets louder.

The glass glistens...
"Begone damn spots",
all is clear now.

Then
I hear the crash
and view the scraps
of feathers, beak,
legs and bone.

Deceived by soap and water.
destroyed by a housewife's obsession. 


The above painting was in an old copy of Irish Arts and I can't remember who painted it....
...if any one knows maybe they can let me know.
I think it very tender.

I've linked this in to dVerse poets but can't find where to comment so just hope that it is found...
soooo untechie it's not true!!

Wednesday, May 4

A Poem for Thursday.


Above the grassy labyrinth
Wood browns flirt and flutter in pairs
Catching rays of gold
On mottled wings.
So new life emerges
Playful coquettish
To fly and suck
On summer's nectars.
The struggle from
The winter's binding
Strengthening flight
And damp moss perfumes
Dappled sunlight.
While blackbirds claim
Old Territories and sing.