My responses to the prompt ‘In a Woman’s Hands’ by @bec_ellis_writer. See more at www.instagram.com/explore/tags/inawomanshands
-
The Ferocious Faery
Read moreSix years ago she made me workthrough the night and early lightsnatching rest before she pressedtiny nails by face clawing her own paceto safely, naturally, painfully take her place. Big brother catalysed our growing, feeling, yielding to mammalian attachment styles of talking,wearing, feeding, workingbut the ferocious faery had her own ways – “Tummy sleeper only, pleaseI’ll nap alone in darkened peaceking-sized, briefly, but no slingsthen sleep entwinedkicking out, twelve hoursat a time, peaceful.No reasoning or logic hereI know my mind, and you must…
-
#30dayhaikuproject
Read moreThirty days, thirty haikus. In April 2021, for National Poetry Month, Nicole Gulotta from The Wild Words provided springtime haiku prompts on Instagram using the hashtag #30dayhaikuproject. Here are my responses:
-
Dreaming of Darkness
Read moreSometimes I anger, hot red with frustration, that I can’t live a life full of manifestation. I close my eyes stinging with tears and see clearly a different reality, creation. Streets peppered with trees, calming and cleaning. Wild green spaces for children tribing in freedom. Black, brown, white, with disabilities or enabled, all genders and histories intermingled. We lighten our tread on the land and its creatures. Helping not hindering healthy existence. After children and responsibilities are safely tucked up,…
-
Throwing it
Read moreThrowing pebbles at the roaring waves, Of crashing noise, of cold, salty sprays. Shouting nothings across the vast sea, From the deepest, darkest, parts of me. Sometimes you need to stand toe-to-toe, With wilderness out there, wilderness on show. Your storm settles, your tension expressed. The roaring and crashing can now, rest.
-
Winter Walk
Read moreMy feet shrink and grow with cold and use, The surfaces they meet equally crisp. My lungs washed clean and cool, renewed. Ears throb to my optimistic pulse. Nostrils cleared, breathing in icy water, Temporarily dry and mourning scent. My eyes both feast on forms revealed, Bare bones of nature, cooly glazed, Somehow more, now they are less, Punctuated by timeless green neighbours. The light, though ethereally soft, seems bright, It lifts and pushes me, from inside out, Reaching to…
-
Fairy Tale Endings
Read moreA year of oscillating between fearing which medical infliction might take my parents. Doing our utmost to defend them from the invisible monster, whilst they battle bravely their discovered invaders. It feels strangely familiar, their journey to the cure, through the lair of the beast. Happy endings look like hope.
-
January Thanks
Read moreThank you skies for clearing, grey clouds and foggy head. Thank you air for cooling breath, as we ran wherever hearts led. Thank you forest for holding us in miniature forests of heather, moss, and lichens. Moments to cherish, in January.
-
Letting Go to Welcome
Read moreThe letting go of autumn feels just so fitting this year, The peak of our year’s outward energies curtailed, now released, Each feeling, hope, regret, sorrow, wish. Released, and let go, and in doing so, Leaves the true shape of who we were all along. Welcoming the inward winter.
-
Fungi
Read moreThe fruiting visual beholden in damp, Secretive but yet so stunning to spot. At once reminiscent of tiny worlds, Of miniature magic, of faeries and elves. But also of hidden underfoot sprawls, Webs of connection and soft growth unseen, Alluring contrast of feast or of death, A juxtaposed, umbrella-posed, quiet fungi stands.
-
Summers
Read moreWhen summers are recollected in smells and tastes, Sensations on bare skin and grit between toes. When familiar routines, songs and recipes bring expanding of heart. When they touch a plant and it warps them viscerally back decades. When we’ve done our best to savour and enjoy, Summer and our children.
-
Betwixt: A Portrait of Family Life in Between
Read moreMaturing Spring, waiting to accomplish Summer. One boy halfway between four and fourteen. A cosy spot, between the outdoors and the in; Halfway out the window, halfway in the green. One on his job, one hard at play. Both learning, brains working, toe to toe. Safety and freedom by staying constrained. Life crystallised and basic, Feelings numb betwixt extremes.
-
Deep Water
Read moreDanger deep water. No swimming. We’re not swimming. But we’re not sinking either.
