72 micro-seasons 27

Janey...

Now the first poppies,

and refugee buddleia 

peer from the hedgerows

Beverley...

There is no hate crime

In the tall waving grasses

Thistles find their place

Helen...

Sultry summer air,

Heat hanging with its tongue out,

The birds know it’s wrong.

Echo

Echo of the past

at the corner of my eye -

a ghostly presence

72 micro-seasons 26

Janey...

Wars, rumours of wars -

by firelight I'll watch the moon,

full, above the cliff

Helen...

Garden party guests -

Wine, egg sandwiches, jam scones,

Then walk, enchanted.

Kit...

High above the pike 

skylarks sang full tilt - a sound

that made the moor gleam

For Marta

On tentative wings 

our fragile-flight of kindness 

encircling the earth 

1970#2

And do you still sit,

one hand clasped around your knee,

on the floor, as I do?

1970

A long ago cave, 

a scrap of paper, quiv'ring,

goodbye love, it said

72 micro-seasons 25

Janey...

Litany of light -

calendula, nasturtium,

roses in the rain

Kit...

The morning is hung

with a necklace of Yorkshire

fog, jewelled with raindrops

Helen...

It is worth the wait: 

Bugloss sown in ‘twenty three, slowly turning blue.

Beverley...

smattering discord,

A litter of crows swirls up

from the far tree tops

72 micro-seasons 24

Janey...

Just a memory,

yesterday's raging torrents -

my mind a still pool

Helen...

All those garden gaps

Now full: blousy peonies,

Toadflax, Orach, Rose.

Kit...

New fern fronds unfold

like tired fiddle heads stretching

after hours of play 🎵 🎶 🎵

Beverley...

Bees with greedy feet

Dance in the poppy pollen;

Delicious humming

72 micro-seasons 23

Janey...

Butterfly flutters

with a lot of hopefulness -

blue pollinator

Written by my little 8 year-old friend, who is visiting

Kit...

Good afternoon Deer

as we met up the lonning,

you staring me square

Helen...

Wellingtonia

Looking a bit brown and singed

By hot spring sunshine.

Beverley...

Pink Hawthorne fading

Waves of cow parsley seed heads

A pop of poppy

72 micro-seasons 22

Janey...

Still the parched earth dreams,

foxgloves in sentinel rows,

the dusty cliff path

Kit...

To the hum of bees

and cuckoo call, I hoick up

creeping buttercup

Helen...

All spring we’ve heard them,

Baby starlings, chirruping.

Now they’ve grown and flown.

72 micro-seasons 21

Janey

Today's blue stillness -

our unexpected summer

delighting the heart

Helen 

Giddy swifts, wheeling 

Like playground kids, shrieking loud,

Glad to be alive.

Kit

Cycling through shadows,

hawthorn, sycamore, dog rose

dappling the tarmac

72 micro-seasons 20

Janey...

Early dappled sun,

still the wreckage of the storm,

gently flows the stream

Beverley...

Before the wind comes 

Off-white elderflower tang 

Inside each in-breath

Helen...

White-flowering days:

Cow parsley in the hedgerows,

Hawthorn in the fields.

Kit...

Dust lines the road sides

Dust that once oozed, smooth, rich, brown

Weeks now without rain

72 micro-seasons 19

Janey

Mauve on the cliff-side,

quietly the first foxglove,

breathing the spring day

Beverley 

First white campion

Clusters of bright buttercups 

Dandelion puffs

Kit

Hey - what about this?!

An otter - mooching about

With a neighbour's sheep ...

Helen 

Laden hawthorns, bent

Under white weight of blossom.

I plant sweet woodruff.

72 micro-seasons 18

Janey...

Beach metal, I find

my life is blessed with treasure -

I know how to look

Kit...

My grandmother's home,

dressed in white wisteria,

looks ready to wed

72 micro-seasons...17

Janey...

A thing of beauty

arriving from a stranger

unexpectedly...

Helen...

Todays companions:

Speedwell, Blackthorn’s tiny stars,

Campion, bluebells.

Kit...

Fields under plastic -

Seen from afar, as rivers

as lakes, as wide seas

Beverley...

Tides of new leaf rise,

Flood the roadsides in high waves;

Cow parsley foaming

72 micro-seasons 16

Janey...

Life, death and fresh growth -

we are but this moment, fleet,

blossom in the air

Helen...

Capricious April:

First, sun like a dentist’s lamp,

Now grey skies and rain.

Kit...

Joy! A wayside clump

of double-yolk daffies sway

in the chill north wind.

Beverley...

Short stemmed dandelions

Strewn across the rutted tracks

Pheasant croaks, dove coos.

72 micro-seasons 15...

Janey

Rainy days return,

my heart, like the horizon

tender and easy

Helen

This cool grey green light

softens the colours and scents

of Spring. I breathe in.

Beverley 

After the yellows

Wisteria and lilacs

Lie soft on the eye

Kit

And then came the rain

with the wind and the cherry 

blossom stood no chance

72 micro-seasons 14

Janey...

Hope, like gratitude,

taking flight amid the green,

blossom falls like snow

Kit...

Cock pheasant pursues

hapless pair of hens, eager

to find his plus-one

Helen...

But out in the fields,

Lamb bounces up to pheasant 

Wanting him to play.

Beverley...

Wind over blue green

waves of rippling wheat shoots

Sunlit crests sparkle

72 micro-seasons 13...

Janey...

Silence but the wind

and the skylark in the blue -

this paradise land

Kit...

Mischievous Helm wind

upends bins, sends a chill, burns

the daffodil's frills

Helen...

Emptying the ash

In whirling windy sunshine - 

An April error.

72 micro-seasons 12...

Janey...

Early morning sky -

and, leaving reluctantly,

the new crescent moon 🌙

Kit...

Clocks change and the days

skip into a new chapter,

bookended by light

Helen...

All of a sudden 

Warm winds caress high branches,

Leaves start to uncurl.

Beverley...

Unnamed bird bounces

Up from the rough field into

the glance of the sun

Jane...

Orange light through twigs

And in the conservatory

With promise of warmth.

72 micro-seasons 11

Janey...

All yellow today - 

coconut-scented gorse, and

the bright Welsh sunlight

Helen...

Oh, feel the earth tilt!

Pale flower faces spill light,

At night, wondrous stars.

Kit...

The river is low 

New rocks emerge - gossiping

Greylags idly perch

Jane...

In the brush, shrill birds

Call and trill, full and ardent,

Fluttering in twos.

Beverley...

Fair tresses blowing 

The willow begins dripping

Its fresh green cascade

72 micro-seasons 10

Janey...

Picking wild garlic

and, after the equinox,

a veiled and pale sun

Kit...

The lapwings are back

Zipwire spree of tumbling tones

Lifts the sullen fells

Jane...

Change in the weather

Blows in a gift of wallflowers 

Surrounded by scent.

Beverley...

Grey sky undisturbed

magnolias burst unseen

from softly split buds 🌸

Helen...

Things are looking sharp:

Tulips in their dark cradles,

Anticipating.

72 micro-seasons 9

Janey...

Travelling inland...

candy-floss blackthorn 

blossom - 

the hedgerows adorned

Kit...

Egg-yolk daffodils

Wink under the bare beeches 

Spring welcomes me home

Helen...

Birds getting ready:

Two cock pheasants fight at noon,

Twilight blackbird sings.

Jane...

Above the reservoir 

Soft grey clouds in a gentle wind.

Oyster-catchers play.

Beverley...

Stars over dark blue

And a large dish of a moon

The promise of frost

72 micro-seasons 8

Janey...

A too-soon tulip

strikes fire from the chimney pot -

warms my fearful heart

Helen...

In Sunday’s springtime

We basked and wore sunglasses.

Today - was that snow?

Beverley...

Yellows bright and blanched

Egg yolk, custard, sherbet, straw

Pixilated spring

72 micro-seasons 7

Janey...

Like the Coldplay song,

see how the colour shines, but -

for me it's all blue!

Beverley...

Soft breezes blowing

Blue between empty branches 

A stray horse grazes

Helen...

Pansies, orange, blue

Potted near the hellebores 

Nodding approval.

72 micro-seasons 6

Janey...

Silver sea and sky,

haphazardly the dog runs -

brooding mountains rise

Helen...

Newfangled sowing:

Under artificial lamps,

Two tiny seedlings!

72 micro-seasons 5

Janey...

Pink and silver sky - 

echoes of the morning sun 

in the sea today

Jane...

Golden afternoon 

In the forest in a dream

The lake at my side.

Helen...

My dusktime blackbird,

Nervous roof-hopper, singing

Strange wild songs. Light fades.

Beverley...

Hatless, gloveless walk

No need to shoulder the wind 

Warm light seeps through cloud

72 micro-seasons 4...

Janey...

Lemon sky today - 

Oh my heart, the first skylark 

somewhere in the blue

Helen...

Sharp knife blades of wind

Give way to softer weather -

Calm rain falls gently.

Jane...

Navy and azure 

Morning clouds cover the sky.

My train hurtles on.

Beverley...

Yews blowing softly

Centuries of memories

Easterly gusts gone

72 micro-seasons 3

Janey...

A bitter east wind

and we huddle, homeward-bound -

daffodils shiver

Beverley...

Skylark song threads catch

Invisible wrens inside

Winter-worn hedges

Helen...

Pausing, we look down:

Sunlight on blankets of fields,

Clatter of horse hooves.

Jane...

Huddling in my house,

White stillness all around me

I wake to low sky.

72 micro-seasons 2...

Janey...

Peering from the sedge,

today's tiny offering -

my wondering gaze

Helen...

Dusky hellebore

nodding encouragingly -

Spring is on her way.

Beverley...

Snowdrops around graves

Light the way for spirits

Among quiet yews

72 micro-seasons year 2:1

Janey...

Braving the cold breeze

the earliest daffodil

strikes a yellow pose

Helen...

Grey road through beech woods

brightened by the sudden sight

of two deer leaping.

Jane...

Five frosty deer graze.

In silent golden fields they feed,

As yet protected.

72 micro-seasons...72

Janey...

'Aspen tremulens',

waiting summer's whisp'ring leaves -

the shivering tree

Helen...

I hold this moment:

Morning sky, pencil drawn leaves,

Save it for later.

Jane...

Setting sun's last glow

Sets hedgerow on fire, rose-gold

And incandescent.

Kit...

Sunset smacks the barn

hard on its west cheek, sullen

grey quick-turns fierce gold

Beverley...

incessant soft rain

muddy puddles and car spray

glitter on glasses

72 micro-seasons 71

Janey...

Lichen takes pity -

blackthorn branches clothed in green...

summer finery

Helen...

A wolf wind howling,

Steam writhing like a dervish 

From next-door’s boiler.

Beverley...

At the edges of the storm, the cloud cover is stripped away and acres of sunlight floods over the fields.

Jane...

Queen of winds blows in,

Makes trees dance and air whistle.

We are in our place.

Kit...

hailstones whip the skin 

leaves spin, send dogs' tails spinning

ears flip inside out

72 micro-seasons...70

Janey...

Weigela trembles,

nonchalently a goldfinch-

a startle of colour

Helen...

Thin grey dawn breaking,

Stillness in the leaves and stones,

This new day opens.

Kit...

Mist muffles the tops

of the fells - creeps stealthily 

down into their folds

Beverley...

A wash of bird trills spreads through the bare trees and over the field space. Starlings have gathered.

Jane...

A white owl soaring

Drops low over rough grasses,

Hides when it sees me.

72 micro-seasons 69

Janey...

From my attic -

Somewhere behind the grey - slate, sea, sky - the full wolf-moon is setting

Jane...

Snow melt churns dark peat.

Cascading torrents of brown 

swirl and thunder down.

Kit...

A Pomegranate 

sunset spills into the west,

owls alleluia

72 micro-seasons 68

Janey...

Frozen rivulets - 

the sound of running water

silenced this cold dawn

Kit...

Dusk, and I'm out watching the huge ping-pong moon pull up the first of the evening stars as she rises into the chill dark blue

Beverley...

Hoar frost as far as the flat fields stretch. Windless space.

Angie...

World is sprinkled white

Frozen in animation

Sun melts bitter heart

Helen...

Sky seems full of ice

Sun slants, and look! A barn owl

Perched unsteadily.

72 micro-seasons 67

Janey

Icy north wind, white

snow on the distant mountains My gaze turns seaward

Helen...

Three fat birds scrabbling

for scraps on snowy cobbles.

Hunger drives them down.

Kit...

Birdfoot tracks - twig moulds - in the frost-whiskered snow, this bright morning

Beverley...

The crunch of boots and paws over frosty grass and leaf fall.

72 micro-seasons 66

Janey...

Early quince blossom in my neighbour's hedge, already the promise of my autumnal jellies

Kit...

The Eden is a murky torrent for our first swim of the new year. We hug the bank as woody debris hurtles past in the fast lane ...

Jane...

Thick cold droplets fall on birches above the river.

Helen...

Streaky sunlight gives way to sleet - wind lifts brown river water and makes back-to-front waves.

Beverley...

The sky in an accelerated rush to outrun the whiplashing rain.