Missing you
One moment I’m walking through the spring woods with a friend,
waiting for the bluebells to blue
talking of this and that as her dog sniffs and scoots,
when suddenly there are puddles with no wellies splashing
sticks which are no longer swords
trees which are not made into dens
and streams which are … Read more
Football frightens me
I have sons who love football and so for years I have stood in mud and cold by the side of small pitches watching kids kick a ball. Then they grow up and want to keep on kicking a ball. None of this do I have any issue with. Health, fitness, being part of a … Read more
Mermaids
Mermaids
From the waves I see them,
Three women, engrossed in each other’s laughter.
They take a selfie,
Arms wrapping each other closely,
Laughing
Heads flung back
Hearts open.
I emerge to the shingle
And cover myself in my pink towel tent
And as I do
they strip,
flinging clothes into a pile
layer after … Read more
How I let the pandemic change me – relationship
This is a harder post to write because it involves other people…so I won’t talk much about them. Suffice to say that my long term relationship unravelled as the pandemic progressed and so after a decade I find myself single again in my mid fifties. I am not the only one. 63 percent of all … Read more
How I let the pandemic change me – work
My mum studied with the Open University when I was a child. I remember her being moved by the poems of Heaney and Ted Hughes. She read us the poems and who knows whether it was her passion that led me to my literature degree. She didn’t finish hers, the demands of single parenting in … Read more
How I let the pandemic change me – remember
I don’t know if any of you remember the pandemic?
I don’t mean the fact that it happened,
but how life changed
how you felt when the cars stopped,
when the birds could be heard,
when the air quality improved
when we missed loved ones
and hugs
and smile.
That visceral feeling of what it … Read more