Garden September 2014

Fly agaric (poisonous hallucinogenic) - no mushroom risotto with this please

Long Tailed Tit
 

 

Thinking why can't I fly?

 

Grapes nearly ready

 

Book

When words fail

Imagination serves
But it cannot be shared
I cannot describe it
Nor how it is seen
But I continue to try
That is the essence
Of why we write
But I will not succeed
Though ever I improve
For time writes too
And her words are final
I see them upon my face
The best thing I never wrote
Is read within my eyes

Sunset

Melting wax below candle flame

That has used its entire wick
Sunset now slips away
Guttering in the breeze of dusk
And I am here in the cusp of days
The intersection of thought and space
A shallow time of gothic wonder
Before the night takes my thoughts
Lays me asleep; to dream of another day

Aurora Borealis

There is coldness in the night air

Just two weeks ago it wasn't there
I now sit shivering in the dark
For Aurora Borealis to make its mark
But nothing is seen in a crimson sky
Too far south is the explanation why
Perhaps one day when my travels are done
I will have seen the sight made by the sun
In plume and burst and particles spawn
I will take a night and sit unto dawn
For the solar wind to blast the earth
See a magnetic sight and count its worth

Frederic Edwin Church's 1865 painting "Aurora Borealis" from Wikipedia

 

 

Centre

There is not one tall cloud left

Rising up in the permanent sky
There is no centre ground underfoot
To stand upon day after day
Watch the world slip gently by
All is now lateral polarisation
Into the nervous balance of chaos
It is the ancient rhythms of hate
That quenches evolution and hope
Hearts beat breasts in iniquitous time
Blood pumps in constricting veins
Waiting for the rush of the apocalypse
And of all the selfish thoughts that come
I wonder why it has to happen now
When life for us all could be so sweet

Garden September

 

2 Fine Lilies

 

 

Peacock on Cosmos

 

Coming in to Land

 

Honey Fungus

 

Halloween Toadstool

 

Perfect Dandelion Clock

Supermoon

The vaunted super moon was really not much bigger than usual but it was one of those rare clear nights for a picture

Plumbing

When the water flows the patience goes

It's not for the weak the sight of a leak
Some many differings of threaded fittings
Crazy washers he tuts and those tiny nuts
No more leaks I say until I pass away
A ballcock is just too much for this old crock
I saved 50 pounds so then I'll stand the rounds
But I'll be asking why if my house don't stay dry

September

Tis now September the month of closing

Of yellowing leaves and fungus nosing
Chill air settles promoting heavy dews
Harvests to gather will test our thews
Swallows leave and wasps now slumber
Day shorten and landscapes become umber
And I retire indoors and light the potbelly
Warm butter croissants with raspberry jelly
For now without all is running to winter
Autumn's appears and summer doth splinter

Joan Rivers (American Comedienne 1933-2014)

Comedy is rooted within our ignorance

A bittersweet fight against sensibility
We laugh at pain and stupidity not intellect
Sadness releases comic emotions like rain
But it takes sensation to make it work
And a sparkling wit to draw the crowd
Thanks for all the laughs you gave Joan
And if controversy is a kind of salvation
Consider yourself now fully redeemed

Joan Rivers (American Comedienne 1933-2014)

Sushi

I made some sushi - I was quite proud of my attempt

Tarn

High upon slate lined hills

Hidden from the world
Sits a lonely tarn
Unseen and unremarked
The scent of the evening
Pruned and shaped by day
Floats over the still water
And night falls and falls
And still the tarn is there
In the blackness of night
High upon slate lined hills
Hidden from the world

Flora

Suffolk Flora

Fauna

Suffolk Fauna ( obviously most from a zoo called Africa Alive and not wandering in the wilds of the county)

Somalian Ass

 

Mongoose

 

 

Chimapnzee

 

Otter

 

Meerkats

 

 

Goat

 

Buffalo

 

Kingfisher in the garden

 

Duck

Flamingos

 

 

Giraffe

 

Goose

Taste

I taste your fingers and drown
They have the tang of the sea
Salt upon ozone breezes at noon
I smell your hair and inhabit Eden
Jasmine and Orange blossom
In fragrant wind unto the earth end
I kiss your pillowed lips of softness
They are chocolate and honeyed figs
And this is no bittersweet embrace
For I feel your warmth on my skin
And it slides about me like a serpent
Coils gently crushing love into me
And I shall stay here sated forever

Suffolk Holiday

 

 

The Holiday

 

Soft dawns and green Suffolk expanse

Long golden beaches of corn stubble

Below the azure skies of August days

A Marabou Stork and rhino horn

Herons fly as a reminder of prehistory over...

Round, turreted church towers

Formed of flint from the Saxon land

While wine flowed and food followed

On the yielding lawns of Satis House

For half a century of perfect grace

Cromer crabs may dress for the tourists

But sartorially fine tourists dress for locals

A holiday is always over before it begins

But memories; well they may last a lifetime

 

 

 

 

Kestrel

Weak

Frailty is its own reward

So I am weakened
But sometimes it is strength
For this gentle inflection
On deep oceans of hope
Keeps me afloat
When the rains come

Laughter

Laughter is the rainbow

Arcing over a teary sky
Beauty at tempest's end
But fleeting and uncertain
Yet wondrous to behold
Dictators hate laughter
It troubles obedience
And it cannot be stopped
Once it has begun
For freedom is unconditional

Wind

The wind has torn away yesterday

Filtered through cracks like a spectre
Weaved on dusty floors like a serpent
Shredding our dreams in lieu of today
No soft servant now of a hot summer day
But fearless samurai scything the trees
And our tomorrow is renewed in liberty
For when a storm comes the world changes

Dorothy

Lion, witch and no wardrobe

Tis not munchkin's I'll warrant
Or scarecrows and tin cans
Upon this road of yellow
And I am no Dorothy in gingham
But this is surely the Land of Oz
And it is not as green as supposed

Footstep

The creative plan of time is rich in promise

It moulds the soul into gentle compliance

If we but take its inclination to be at peace
And make of the day what it wills for us
If we wait we may watch a day unfurl

There is always sun hidden within clouds

Seize its favour as it unfolds its embrace

Sleep

Now the wind has passed

The birds have flown south
A thousand beating wings
That harbour longing to stay
I shall sleep perhaps awhile
Take ease in the fading days
Till the spring awakens me
And the birds return to home

Sweetness

 

This bitter stain at last undone
Sugared blood in rivulets form
On a warming steel
Sweetness bursts forth in heat
And I harvest the light of summer
To feed my long, cold winter
For jam tomorrow is labour today

Circle

So I trace a circle on the white space

It is the only thing that makes sense
That doesn't make my gentle head hurt
It is whole and perfectly in completion
Like the evolution of humanity in a dream
Secret whispers finally reveal the truth
We are at perpetual war with everything
Though we are no longer sure of what

Titan

The last open door creaks slowly shut

Or so it would seem in these days
But there is still strength in you
It is the bedrock we stand upon
So if we do not see you then remember
It is only because we do not look down
But you my special one need to look up
Stand up high; like the Titan you are
And let us fall so you can be at last free

Catalyst

We will follow our hearts

They create a catalyst for love
And if they then lead us to ruin
What sweet desolation awaits
Even if the world tastes bitter
True loves flower blooms briefly
But it matures within our hearts
And that fading flower is eternal

August Garden

First pine cones on one of the conifers (20 years waiting) - large ones too, they're hanging off the tree like bunches of bananas

A Courgette (zucchini flower)

 

The Hosta flower

 

Blue Hydrangea and Corkscrew Hazel

Peace

Harmony is imprinted in our hearts

Deliver it with human empathy
Speak no more in angry tongue
Nor with a sophistry of regrets
Talk only of our understanding
When the children are now laid
Within death's timeless vault
It hardly seems to matter anymore
Who of us was first; or was at fault?
And unless we are truly made of stone
What say you now; to a new peace?