I want my children to livein a world where there’s a future to grow intoI took the decision to have children in good faithconsidering the implications: the world does not need more people, it needs more people prepared to make a difference I try to educate thembut by the time they’re grown, eco-warrior might not be a... Continue Reading →
Reports roll in of a simulation on Russia Today:a thermonuclear explosionrolling a tsunami500m highover the British Isles Of course, it's only posturingwe have our 'independent nuclear deterrent' ironically named (against 'Poseidon') 'Trident'and there must be at least50 different waysto end the world 'If only,' I think 'we weren't experimenting with eachand every one of themat... Continue Reading →
Flush green against the sky in early Maythe mountains in their splendour undulatetowards the valley, beneath clouds of greyfrom dreams of yesterday, new dreams create The mountains in their splendour undulatewhile lovers walk beneath their shadowed gazefrom dreams of yesterday new dreams createas winter love warms into summer days Where lovers walk beneath their shadowed... Continue Reading →
Derwentwater’s oaken shoregives onto waters, crystal pureor so they were, now marred with foama plague upon my mountain home Bracken-clad hillsides’ colours changewith seasons as they rearrangeand sphagnum moss and cotton-grasswet walker’s bootsteps where they pass and yew and sedge and ash trees bendin winds which blow, the boughs to rendwhile birdsong of the lark... Continue Reading →
I live at the boundarybetween urban and rural lifeat the threshold of the countryside,where daily birdsongsoothes my woes, and calms my strife I ride out across rolling fieldswhere factories encroach upon the rivered wildthe beck meanders like a playful childand bullocks feeding at the marginssnort and stamp their feet at passersby I press on to... Continue Reading →
I don't write about the war, much:when it broke out, it felt as thoughEurope were my body, and a crocodilehad torn off one of my limbs, left it severedand was feasting on its gorein parody of glory. I don't write about the war, as such:I've thought about red buttons, Hiroshima shadows on concrete steps, waved... Continue Reading →
Catbells is changing colourburnished copper into gilded greenthe fields, alive in flowergive on to glorious mountainscapes, serene Higher peaks peppered with snow, belowthe wan sun warms the valley floorhere we may lay aside sorrowwhere grieving sings no more The birds trill out their tra-la-la songall the length of my broad trailtheir honeyed melodies in throngrise,... Continue Reading →
A tide of plastic is upon us,every day, we are bombarded, it is so seamlessly sewn into the fabric of our lives, we scarcely notice:plastic packaged fruit and vegplastic bags still everywhereplastic trays protect the meat we eatand the ‘earth friendly’ vegan products tooplastic helps prevent food waste, but spoils the earthplastic is a product of... Continue Reading →
I open my palm and the fingers extendspreading like a sycamore leafand veined in the same way:this palm, this handhas held hands tiniermore delicate than palmate leavesyet with a gripinfinitely strongwe call a grasping reflexliterally clinging for dear lifewith all our mightuntil the time we must learn to let go.I will not let go my grip... Continue Reading →
LoveI want to shelter deep within your heartfor I am part of you, as you of me:there is no shelter when we are apart LoveI want to shelter you within my armsfrom a thousand thousand worldly cares and harmsin silence, as we listen to the wind’s song Childnine moons I sheltered you beneath my breast,I wrote... Continue Reading →
