Tag: trees

poetry appreciation

something winter-y

Jan 21, 2022 #calm, #creation, #delightful, #Dylan Thomas, #hennen, #magic, #mysterious, #mystery, #mystical, #oneness, #owl, #peace, #playful, #rabbit, #sheep, #sheep in the winter night, #spirit, #spiritual, #the force that through the green fuse drives the flower, #Thomas, #Tom Hennen, #trees, #unity, #whimsical by Lucy Crispin

This week’s poem is another recent discovery and I’m not sure quite what appeals to me so much about it. But something does. See what you make of Tom Hennen’s charming ‘Sheep in the Winter Night (which Garrison will read for you at 2:38, if you so wish).

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poetry appreciation

more rain, and leaves

Nov 4, 2021 #autumn, #beginning, #Binyon, #confinement, #ending, #freedom, #hope, #Laurence Binyon, #light, #possibility, #rain, #spring, #trees, #weather by Lucy Crispin

Last week the rivers were rising in Cumbria and the water flowed brown and white and angry through the centre of towns. The big rain down did rain and brought trouble to many. This rain poem, however, has a mood of hope and possibility: here’s the charming ‘The rain was ending‘ by Lawrence Binyon.

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poetry appreciation

the trees are down

Jul 22, 2021 #charlote mew, #climate catastrophe, #climate change, #ecology, #loss, #mew, #the trees are down, #tree, #trees, #wood, #woods by Lucy Crispin

For a few years now, my local council seems to have been on a mission gratuitously to cut down trees. I get that sometimes this is necessary; but the info-about-works relating to one copse up on the fell near my house gave, as the reason for felling, “felling”. Hmm. Another glorious maple on the green was cut down because it was a Canadian maple, and therefore non-native, and therefore… well, what?? So sad. I don’t know if it’s consoling (as in we read to know we are not alone) or even more depressing to find this poem, ‘The Trees are Down‘ by Charlotte Mew, in which the poet laments exactly the same thing. (There’s a rather good reading of it here.) It was written almost exactly a hundred years ago. Plus ca change.

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poetry appreciation

autumn beauty

Oct 29, 2020 #ageing, #autumn, #beauty, #inspire, #melancholy, #poems, #poetry, #school, #swans, #teacher, #The Wild Swans at Coole, #time, #trees, #WB Yeats, #woods, #Yeats by Lucy Crispin

This was one of the three poems that changed the course of my life. That sounds rather dramatic, but it’s true. We “Did” Yeats for A-level and I was blessed with one of those teachers whose capacity to inspire you feel at the time without really realising what’s going on. Without Stevie I don’t know if I would have “got” literature and followed it as student, teacher, writer, throughout my life. So this is a very important poem for me. Here it is: ‘The Wild Swans at Coole‘ by Yeats.*

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poetry appreciation

something to hold on to

Apr 16, 2020 #bird, #birds, #birdsong, #change, #corona virus, #Covid 19, #dawn chorus, #forest, #forest bathing, #grief, #Hirshfield, #Jane Hirshfield, #lockdown, #loss, #love, #nature, #The Promise, #trees, #woods by Lucy Crispin

Waking at 5.25 this morning I got straight out of bed and went to the wood behind my house where I walked slowly round, revelling in the full glory of the dawn chorus. I was still in my pyjamas so I’m glad I was there before the first dogwalkers and runners (in these days of lockdown they are infesting the times and places that—did they but know it—are actually MINE. I know; sorry.) But even though I didn’t get caught I was aware that this wasn’t exactly Normal Behaviour. I mean, sure, I walk pretty much every morning. But I usually get dressed first. It just didn’t seem worth it today.

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poetry appreciation
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