72 micro-seasons 35

Janey...

Shimmering sunset

over the still summer sea -

Then again the rain

Helen...

Last days of July:

Rose bay willow, meadowsweet,

Rowans already.

Kit...

A glut of rainbow

chard and lettuces - we gorge

quick before they bolt

72 micro-seasons 34

Janey...

Then after the rain-

fall, honeysuckle sweetness

drifting in the air

Kit...

Clinging to Yorkshire

Fog, soldier beetles nimbly

shin the long bent stem

Helen...

On high wires, swallows

chattering unsettle me.

Please don’t go, not yet.

72 micro-seasons 33

Janey

Knapweed, jewel-like,

mauve amid the sparkling webs -

diamonds in the rain

Helen

Hot air hangs heavy,

School quiet, last day of term,

Tomorrow - the storms.

Kit

Lured by bright noon light

A dazzle of damselflies 

Ply the willow bank

72 micro-seasons 32

Janey...

A cool breeze today,

fledgling skylarks wheel and shriek 

- the blue sea and sky

Helen...

Battered gazebo,

Bought for our wedding party,

Still providing shade.

Kit...

The heather is out!

The fell wears a purpling fuzz

on its wind-struck face

72 micro-seasons 31

Janey...

That she messaged me 

'a rainbow over the sea!' -

there's the REAL promise

Kit...

Mud-brown morel frog

clambers slow the steep mud-slip

bank, heroically

Helen...

These things bring me joy:

Dark red hollyhocks, stately

Against our stone wall.

Beverley...

The sound of soft wind

Turquoise flash of dragonfly 

War flights overhead

72 micro-seasons 30

Janey...

Housebound today, I

watch the fledglings frenzied feed -

the big, too bright world

Helen...

Rain hammering tiles

So hard that spray makes mist clouds,

And the birds all hide.

Beverley...

Thistles and ragwort

Groundsel, scabious and vetch

Tertiary wisdom

Kit...

Rehoming spindly

carrot thinnings into warm 

dark soil, wet with rain

72 micro-seasons 29

Janey

Yet still the skylark,

wind-buffeted in the grey,

singing-in the day

Helen

Wet grass, sultry green,

The lawn a field of clover,

Toadflax, candytuft.

Kit

Kingfisher returns

dazzling us with a fly past

of sapphire and fire

Beverley 

Warm south-westerly

The papery rush of wind 

Through bleached barley fields