nature – Page 29 – don't confuse the narrator

snowdrops

It’s half a lifetime since I spent so long in the UK at this time of year, and I’m revelling in the early signs of spring.

(The real natural signs, that is, not forced daffodils that have been in the shops since before Christmas, nor the bargain strawberries imported from Spain, however fresh and sweet they are.)

Now the local daffs are promising and will soon be brightening all the gardens, motorway verges and railway embankments. (I imagine a great golden wave that starts in the south west and works its way slowly up to the far north of Scotland.)

For the moment, though, there are snowdrops; more, perhaps, than I have ever seen in my life. I’m currently learning to use a new camera, so there will probably be more snowdrop photos than ever before, too.

sun, snow, sierra

Yesterday at 9am it was still so dark I was hardly able to see whether the garden was still there or whether it had either disappeared under flood-water or been blown away by the wind. Today, though, at around 8:30am:

Early morning mountains sprawl
pink-blanketed
on the horizon

seasons

I’ve mentioned bonfires a couple of times in the last week, and I reckon half the village have been out in their gardens, taking advantage of the sunshine and what, for many, is a long weekend. They haven’t all been busy at the same task, though:

Clear
above the bitter smoke of bonfires
the scent of new-mown grass

I was particularly surprised by that as my lawn looked like this until about midday:
Continue reading “seasons”

days of fog and fungi

Jungle-blossom fungi
cluster around tree stumps;
the air smells of woodsmoke

Continue reading “days of fog and fungi”

in the woods

Sunlight filterd through trees by a stream

I find by chance that someone has include my poem Vignette as an example in a writing exercise for students.

It has been attributed to me, and the poem is available online, so I don’t think there’s a big problem. I do, however, wish that they’d contacted me and told me they wanted to use it. After all, it’d be nice to be told they thought it was good. Equally, it’d be useful – though not as nice – to know if they were using it to demonstrate what /not/ to do.

I don’t seem to have posted it on the blog, so here it is:
Continue reading “in the woods”