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Erosion

Unerring yet erratic
The weight of water never waits
for readiness
Sandstone is proven to be
a two-faced liar
a pretence of solidity written
into the features of its rockface
which crumbles under a wave’s supremacy
and we wave goodbye
to all we knew

Lynne Nesbit

Currently Popular Poems:

White Hawthorns

The day speaks of white hawthorn Sundays Long washed out road trips, reluctant relatives waving you off on arrival. Rain from decades passed, a swishing of glimpses. Parents cramped and fretful. Passing through a littered accompaniment of faceless outlines. Stretched out warming children, car sick, scrunch up weathered newspapers. Pungent smells of nostalgia, almost Springs bouncing forward hours. Eager sweet wrappers lunge for half opened windows to adorn the floating blossom clouds of hawthorn bushes, March’s winds step in much like a bone-chilled but amiable hitch hiker. A querulous sibling rolls over, sickening, falls out in a screeching of tires. Tearfully rain-splattered. Another weekend pulled out and pegged up, redolent of adolescences quickly traversed. Mark Ereira-Guyer

Alone (with the birds)

I’m not good at numbers; words are more my thing but I dabble in statistics and the mathematics of probability. Chance I call it. I’m not often alone. Not often silent, except that companionable silence when you’re lost in your thoughts, but in good company. Surprised all at once by a squawk, a solitary moorhen deep in the reeds, minding its own business, today I’m out practising, sitting alone in the sunshine. Together, we come here often, striding up the cliff-top, dawdling through Kensington Gardens, pointing out fading displays of dahlias and falling leaves. We order americanos at the café, with a jug of hot milk on the side – ‘that’s hot milk, please’ – to make our stay last a bit longer. Today, though, it’s just coffee for one. I consider a cappuccino, a break from routine; old habits are hard to break. ‘Americano’ I say, ‘with hot milk, please’. Would I change if I were left alone? The moorhen seems content. Does it ponder the meaning of life? A seagull soars into the blue – doe

Ickworth Oaks

Those ancient tumbled oaks With intermittent decay the ridged thick bark clings to the base of striped ochre-gold. Silver-grey serpentine arms, outstretched lightning forks reaching to the tufted earth. Beetle channels deeply grooved beneath marks of a veteran striped bark, worn, crumbled and flaked. Amorphous hues, a forgotten silhouette of darkness revealed in Winter’s sun. Cameron

Winter

As the words of yesterday and the events of last year, crunch crisply beneath my feet, Gone are the evening summers, the long walks and the talks, in the lazy, balmy heat. For now is a time of reflection, for even the trees and the grass; Recovery has seasons of respite, just like winter, the bad times will pass.     by Jess  

A Living Link

The whispering wind, the swishing leaves   contradict the fabricated myths telling us you can thunder with anger and ignore the human hunger  for the beauty found in nature; By contrast you seem to nurture  those who are lost and seek tranquillity  because you offer security and stability    - by your inviting omnipresent manner; You’re like a masked living scanner who stores the images of moving time. Your infant branches crave to rhyme With your resilience and the creased skin design - your outer raw umber coat; You become a rescue boat, A shelter, a warm untold unlimited home Binding the surroundings like a queen in a kingdom. You influence any life in contact with you; your body dark but your soul of permanent red hue - it gives us a clear clue... that you are like an endurable glue  between the past, the here and now,  between humans and nature somehow… - in a magical timeless way you don’t allow beauty to astray.     Anon  

Breath

All round the world people are holding their breath Is it just an anomaly or are we in at the death? Our planet is hurting that we all can see Is this blip natural or caused by you and me? We have to trust scientists to tell us the truth You are our hope and you are our sleuth Do not ignore the cynics they’ll keep you on track Retest their theories, and find out what they lack Is it a sun spot that may cause the crash Or too much abuse, and things that we trash So tell us home truths, even things that we fear Especially those things we do not want to hear So all of the plastic we do not need to use All of our assets we need not abuse Will help just a little, we hope and we pray Seek a safe path, make some headway Let the whole world return to a safer course Let saving people be a founding force Be sure to travel just the trail that is true Lies come back to bite, like an old lover’s tattoo Let’s hope with every hope we’re not in at the death And slowly, slowly ..... release the world’s

Leper Chapel - Screams from the Past

Ghost-like stones Of crumbled chalk And forgotten dreams: A leper screams. Lost limbs and Fallen faces: Nuns and monk’s graces Lost to leprosy. Condemned to the chapel: Painful screams, Disfiguring disease In Eleventh Century. A prosperous port To Dunwich they came, Outside Pales Dyke -The fortified ditch. Fragments of columns, Wind-worn capitals And carved Caen stone: Soulless shadows alone. Sandstone arches Guarding unearthly silhouettes Of threatened and isolated lepers Forbidden to work. Medicinal monk-fussing ointments Of hemlock, henbane and mandrake. Preparing for surgery, Opium alerts and vinegar-dabbed faces. Herbs soothing bacteria progressing; Curved sandstone arches Clasping the ghost-like shadows, Echoing the delicate gloom. Stephanie

Waiting For Snape

Only wild reeds resonate As the breeze crosses their beds Motivating memories Of woodwind in Suffolk Reds Halyards hitting muted masts A Wherry waiting to waken A Hepworth holds its dignity Whilst wistfully forsaken Vacant is the vestibule Lost of anticipation Still steps tantalising Leading to frustration Malted beams over empty seats Staring at a silent stage No tautophonic tunings Musicians waiting to engage No bustle at the bar Drinks in the intermission The terrace now so solitary In summer a perfect position So until this pugnacious problem This intruder that impedes our needs Is controlled to a certain degree We’ll listen to the rustle of the reeds. Hugh

Flickering Predictions

An age of drifting forecasts Tempers stabilising the existence A prequel sensation Accessing the conflicts of mind Offset against time. A random schedule. Broadened beyond an overhang Towards sanity An essence of rotations Of flickering predictions and fathoms and reasoning. Dave

Hope

What is hope Glistening frost on the pavement A hint of dawn in the east Small tits flitting, picking some seeds, hesitant first but soon bold. My hope, "light of the world" Shining in you, then reflecting in me. Nothing is lost, just sometimes, it is not so plain to see. Regina