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.