Ways of knowing

This is the last day of Paul Brookes’ April poetry challenge. It has been a very fruitful collaboration for me, and judging by the quality of the poetry it produced, I’d say all the contributors probably feel the same way.

Thank you, Paul for all your hard work in putting this challenge together, and to the three artists, Anjum Wasim Dar, Gaynor Kane and John Phandal Law for their inspiring artwork.

Please visit Paul’s blog to read the poetry, and to see the three pictures that inspired this final poem.

Ways of knowing

Shall I paint a prism,
write a rainbow in the teeming trees?
Is the peeling silver bark a peering badger face,
the blue of frosted sky a jay’s bright-striped wing?

Last year’s leaves sift and sigh,
sinking underfoot into deep earth,
my hair caught in the frothing laughter
of new green growth.

Dull day sullen on the strand,
grey pebbles click and clack
where oystercatchers search in pied beauty
for sandy scuttling things,

one eye on the wave-curl
shaved off the skin of the sea,
waiting for a stray ray to turn on the footlights,
the sound of glitter.

Some days of winter dark,
a thrush sings high and clear,
and suddenly we remember
spring.