Do you not see the beauty of the trees,how they arch over you, their branches raised, as if in hymns of praisetheir secret voices carried on the breezein the rustle of chlorophyllic leaves?Only everywhere. Could you not stretch out beneath them, look up through their limbs into the lightor shelter from a rainstorm underneaththeir canopy... Continue Reading →
What bright darkness gleams atop the oil slick, lights with quartzite glintsthe cut coal seam? What sacred oozes from the bowels of the earth make men richer, turn their hearts to pitchand light the sky on fire? What green rivers of covetousness flow through politicians' pockets, line their tailored suits, close seamssealing their lips forevermore? So when... Continue Reading →
Every day, I waken to birdsong:sometimes the lark and thrush, sweet twitteringor the sparrow and the chaffinch, cheerful chatteringor the rook, cawing in raucous symphony:signature calls, all poetry to me Your touch draws out a different kind of birdsonglow moaning, from a hollow deep in metransformed through love into a holy plainsongwhere never sin, nor... Continue Reading →
I dreamt of Autumn leaves in Summer:a row of tall beech trees along the road to Dalston, blazing yellow, and a woman said,'It starts like this: they’ll pray tomorrow and in a few more years, we’ll all be dead.' I dreamt of seasons turning upside-downand blood-red furrows fouled the sodden plowand all of this to those in... Continue Reading →
I love this land:let me be clearthis is no jingoistic patriotism speaking in meI have been exiled many a year There is no green on earth like to this greenthis English green, green of my motherlandit is not Alpine green, or Slovene greenor even Waimea high pasture green:this green is mine I head out here,... Continue Reading →
I’ll rig the stonesin a crown to cap this Cumbrian hillside:ley-lined, aligned by fate, and time, and seasonand in the centre, stilled, serene, I’ll stay. The sky above me spins,and clouds roll by in billows, Isee down the wormholeto the dawn of time It is the equal to the end of timethere is no difference: time's... Continue Reading →
I wantextreme birdsongextreme greenam fortunate to findthese things surround me I seeextreme angerin the eyes of driverscursing traffic cuesand burning fuel, going nowhere asI, bicycling, fly by Extreme clouds pile highin Northern skiesbillow upon billowrattling outpeal upon pealof angry thunder Extreme rainsends bricks and mortar down the drain:where will we live then?Even the third little... Continue Reading →
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 →
