nature – Page 39 – don't confuse the narrator

anthological exercise

I’m pretty sure I’ve read that Wordsworth wrote his poems while out walking, and that the rhythm of his strides helped him work out the metre. (Pause here for a link to Lynn Peters’ Why Dorothy Wordsworth is not as famous as her brother.)

I try and walk every day, even if it’s only down to the post office to check the mail box. I walk in the hope that I’ll get ideas to write about; I walk to iron out the pieces I am working on; and I walk for exercise. Yesterday was the first reasonable day for a while when I was free to take time for a longer walk, so I went round the reservoir.

I didn’t find any inspiration for new poems; I did, however, find a whole anthology of old favourites.
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bluebirds

I’ve always said I don’t really like birds, but for some reason there are lots of them in my poetry.

We’re fortunate to have pine forest, olive groves, the river and other habitats here that provide homes for a variety of species. The most impressive ones that actually come into the garden include hoopoes and jays, the occasional woodpecker, and one of my favourites, the rabilargo – literally ‘long-tail’ – the azure-winged magpie. Sadly, although these flock in huge numbers – I swear I counted 50 last Tuesday – I’ve never managed to get any kind of adequate picture.
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write, write and write again

Having acquired new book cases, I have been sorting out some of the many piles of paper that I have in my studio; while doing so, I came across two versions of a poem laboriously written out for a competition back when I was a child.

The earlier version is just six lines long and starts:

The Spider, first line: It's horrible and ugly and I hate it.

December images

In no particular order, and with no revision, a few notes that may find their way into poems later on:

Five days torrential rain, then:

Sparkling sunshine;
the orchard
smells of cider.

Mushroom white
figs moulder on the bridle path;
I slip and slime
down to the road.
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gossamer thoughts

There have been a few news pieces recently about the world’s largest spider’s webs. There was one back in September, where the web in question – found in Madagascar – seems to be that of an individual spider and is the circular ‘doily’ type.

Then there was the huge sheet-like web found in Texas recently, that is more likely the work of many spiders.

I have no idea how many spiders there are down in my laundry room, but they have been busy, as is clear from the photo (which really doesn’t do justice to the sun sparkling on the dust motes caught in the filigree of the web).
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