I’m having email problems and this one obviously didn’t get through to Paul. You can see the art that inspired the poem and read all the other contributions here.

In the middle with you
Inspired by all three art works.

We’re all in the middle of something
all wrapped up in dreams
or bricks and mortar
and the way out to the edge moves
like dream-treacle

like the windy roads
in new housing developments
that swallow people up
who are never seen again.

I watch you sometimes among the trees
clearing or coppicing
the way you look at bark and bramble
the height of the stream
a bird’s nest.

And I’m glad you never decided to take
Acacia Crescent or Honeysuckle Way
Poplar Walk or Lilac Close
but took the briar track with all its thorns
that curls deep and green
because the birds nest there
in the middle.