wwwilWildflowers Old Moor by Paul Brookes
Scarcely scented

The scent of wildflowers is suave,
subtle, too subtle for human senses.

So much mauve and blue, bugloss,
bugle and borage, yellow-eyed daisy,
sundial salsify and celandine, the dawn
pink of oxalis, spun sugar of poppy petals,
all mute.

The burden of the brush of colour
enough for their fragility.

Only the blossoms soar,
acacia, apple, plum and lemon,
the heady honeysuckle,
climbing through pale musk of dog rose,

and the scarcely yellow,
inconspicuous spires of winding green,
banks of bedstraw perfume the early summer air
with drifts of purest honey.

Jane Dougherty

Bios and Links

Jane Dougherty

lives and works in southwest France. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems and stories have been published in magazines and journals including Ogham Stone, the Ekphrastic Review, Black Bough Poetry, ink sweat and tears, Gleam, Nightingale & Sparrow, Green Ink and Brilliant Flash Fiction. She blogs at https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ Her poetry chapbooks, thicker than water and birds and other feathers were published in October and November 2020.

Twitter by Paul Brookes

Swift and wood pigeon

On the telephone wire, swift twitters quietly,
eyes never still, watching the flight of insects,
specks of food floating by, millions thick as pollen.

Pigeon coos gently, the rumble in the throat
a matronly reassurance addressed at no one in particular,
her companion, the world below.

Hunger triggers, impatience, a longing in the wings,
and swift launches slicing the air, gaping,
swallowing, scything through the insect-pollen
with high-pitched shrieks of joy.

Pigeon rumbles, unruffled, then ruffles,
preens, one eye on a stalk of ripe wheat going nowhere,
rooted fast, toasting a little more in each minute of sun.

Swift returns, hunger momentarily sated,
folds long sharp wings, tail feathers,

while pigeon launches, rising high then folding wings,
gliding on air-cushioned billows, effortless,
energy-efficient, dropping with the earth’s pull,
to land firm and solid where the wheat grows.

Swift pirouettes, nervous energy a coiled,
uncoiled spring, snaking after clouds of midges,
microscopic flying things, dancing on nothing, fresh air.

Swift laughs at pigeon’s bulk, mass,
airborne in a flurry, wings beating
until the updraft carries her high, higher,
and she lands, perched daintily on the wire.

Pigeon hears the laughter, the vacuous
long-winged arrogance, and thinks,
Beware, stubby-feet, too-long-wings,
the earth has no love of your kind.
Keep high after your fizzing, frothing food,
for once grounded, you will never rise again.

Jane Dougherty

Bios and Links

Jane Dougherty

lives and works in southwest France. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems and stories have been published in magazines and journals including Ogham Stone, the Ekphrastic Review, Black Bough Poetry, ink sweat and tears, Gleam, Nightingale & Sparrow, Green Ink and Brilliant Flash Fiction. She blogs at https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ Her poetry chapbooks, thicker than water and birds and other feathers were published in October and November 2020.

Playing in Manvers Lake by Paul Brookes

What children do

When I was a child,
I loved all of life, the trees and streams, birds,
their glossy flight, furtive animals barely glimpsed,

yet when I was a child,
I caught minnows in the pond.

When I was a child,
I took them home and watched them swim
round and round in jam-jarred space.

When I was a child,
I loved their silver scales,
the glints of blue and red,

and when I was a child,
I watched them turn about, gaping mouthed,
until they floated belly up,
enveloped in trailing clouds of fungus.

Now I am an adult,
I forget what the child thought,
watching captives slowly die.

Now I am an adult,
I watch my minnows, grown brown and slow,
wise as salmon in the deep pond,
and I leave them be.

Jane Dougherty

Bios And Links

Jane Dougherty lives and works in southwest France. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems and stories have been published in magazines and journals including Ogham Stone, the Ekphrastic Review, Black Bough Poetry, ink sweat and tears, Gleam, Nightingale & Sparrow, Green Ink and Brilliant Flash Fiction. She blogs at https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/ Her poetry chapbooks, thicker than water and birds and other feathers were published in October and November 2020.