January 21, 2021
The first post of the new year — what a joy. I am working on a dozen or so new poems, which is unusual, so I hope to post several soon. In the meantime, I have a reading recommendation and a new poem.
I recently discovered The Lost Spells by Robert McFarlane. It is a follow-up to an earlier book, The Lost Words, which I have not read. If you like nature, illustration, and easy verse, then this small book might appeal to you. Originally published in England last year (2019), it is a magical escape into the flora and fauna of Great Britain’s woods and sea. Full of wonderfully evocative watercolor illustrations of creatures in situ, described in clever, elucidated rhymes, it celebrates the wild but not too wild — like badger, hare and jay. This is nature next door, the life we might most commonly espy, and invites you to explore your own local wild places with the “eyes to see and ears to hear.”
[Poem temporarily removed for contest VSP, 1/28/21; Restored 5/30/21]
Winter Solstice 2020
At dawn, plum and fuchsia
stain a watercolor sky —
and the absolute clarity of a
freshly-sharpened crescent moon
reminds me that
it’s all largesse from here:
the closely-quartered sky
expanding its dominion;
a lengthening of days in
consolation to the cold
and hibernation and the
heart’s restless wing-beat —
a sorghum-slow process
lasting months –
like strengthening a muscle
through repetitive work,
an obedience preparing us
for re-emergence with
the irrepressible crocus,
when days equate and then
surpass the darkness –
regardless of mood or temper
or the fracture of long-
forgotten rain gauges.
WordShelter.com 