Reading from the anthology of poems A poetry of Elephants at Ways with Words, Dartington in aid of the care of orphan elephants in Kenya, a need created by the ivory hunters.
Advice from Sharon Olds
I am so enjoying all the writings in ‘Writing Motherhood’ edited by Carolyn Jess-Cooke . This advice from Sharon Olds no less.
A poem for the summer solstice
Godwit Sightings
In north Devon
a pantheon of godwits
a prayer of godwits
an omniscience of godwits
pattered about in the brown mud.
They floated rather,
in that drifty way they have.
Beautiful, light godwits
trotting about on mudflats.
Poem and photo by Rose Cook
A moment of happiness
A Moment of Happiness by Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi
A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden’s beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land.
photograph Rose Cook
A memory poem
The Swing Tree
News is the old swing tree is down.
Lies full length in the river its toe tips showing.
Only the root bole and a crooked arm waving.
The bank is calm, empty of boys.
Each summer they came trying the rope swing, the jumps,
to scare themselves daring higher each time.
Each jump was named, charged with its own danger.
The first, easy, Fairy then Wendy to Twigamala where the bough bulged out.
Fourth, which meant an extra climb, was Kuntekinte.
Getting higher now, the great Obi One
till highest, where the big boys played, though knees trembled as they jumped,
was Gandhi.
The river boiled with screams and laughter, rippled and splashed
to the green banks, to the hot leaves. No more.
Quiet now, the old swing tree is down.
poem and photograph Rose Cook
