Category Archives: Poems

There are daisies in the lawn and a dandelion or two, primroses and celandines stand out here and there violets just peeping through. Catkins on the hazel boughs still hide their rosy flower but it won’t be long before a … Continue reading →

I ran a craft competition on behalf of the group Crafty Reivers at the Stamfordham Village Fayre yesterday . We were short on entries from the public so I entered my Mum’s last quilt. The quilt won the people’s vote! … Continue reading →

Wildness becoming a wilderness of concrete no home for wild life Bird heaven would be of meadows and native trees with wild on the side Wild flowers by lane to bridge across river – insect habitat. Deserted island – wild … Continue reading →

Gaping, insistent raucous throats plead. A mother swoops to feed the brood. Soon satisfied at first, the intervals grow shorter. Weary parents toil in shifts to quell the unrelenting cheeping. Downy plumage covers scrawny skin as jostling rivalry shrinks nursery … Continue reading →

The Alchemy of Trees – a deviant adverb-fest How do trees make poetry of beauty the epitome of overweening dignity exemplar of such alchemy turn brown to green so gaudily and green to gold so carelessly yield habitats resplendently grow … Continue reading →

A sturdy small girl stomps down the pavement in a paddy, crosses the field at speed to launch herself with aplomb into the dinghy. Rocking wildly she picks up an oar to propel the boat upstream by paddling over the … Continue reading →

A bee is seen, then another, then another on the bushes at the top of the steps. Flowers metamorphose into bunches of currants. Rain swells the currants and sunshine brings colour. Human hands disrobe the branches, leaving a few here … Continue reading →

The Sea Eagle So many years since last I saw this place, place of my birth and hers. Six long years to grow – grow and gather my adult strength. From a great height I found her Now I must … Continue reading →

It’s Be Kind to Worms Year to stop the earth being spoiled by large swathes of monoculture, heavy machinery ploughing deep, too much building covering the earth compacting the dirt, impacting the habitat of good bacteria and worms who exist … Continue reading →

Taxonomy a peculiar science – Uncontrollable by mowing, Pilosella aurantiaca, to use its scientific name, is considered worldwide a noxious weed – seen as mundane and unromantic, but by its common name of fox and cubs we’re charmed by the … Continue reading →

O this great beloved world and all the creatures in it how we do mistreat our fragile home by covering it with concrete, brick and tarmac, abandoning the sane and healthy farming of our forbears, planting, raising cattle, caring for … Continue reading →

Through April and May the land blazes with yellow – cheer after winter grey Purple, green and white dominate and decorate trackside banks in June. (c) Vivienne Blake June 13 2015     Mum wrote this poem for the 30 … Continue reading →

We’ll crunch no apples this autumn for the blossom will  not be transformed by the work of our friends the bees. I haven’t seen a bee this year ─ last Spring the farmer did his worst One Sunday on the quiet … Continue reading →