Wednesday 6 January 2010

Flight Paths

Once I had a tree house here
in the branches, ivy covered
next door the blue tits' mossy home
full of scruffy chicks.


Hidden in my tree-top den
I watched the squirrels, fed the birds
and read the Enid Blyton books
my mother never liked.


As a child I always thought
this place would never disappear -
next door's blue tits always there
with gaping mouths to feed.


Now I cannot find the place
among the piles of sawn down trees,
hand painted hoardings shout at me:
Danger Men at Work.


They're cutting down the woods,
the ivy, branches and the nests.
The worried blue tits scream in fear
now they have no home.


When the work is all complete
this will be runway number two -
tourist flights will leave from here
where once the blue tits flew.




(this is an old poem I found when I was digging around in my poetry box over the Christmas holiday, I've never had a tree house in reality, for those who might wonder!

Remember to feed the birds, they need all the help they can get in this freezing weather!)

13 comments:

Martin said...

I'm glad I happened to land on your blog, and I enjoyed 'Flight Paths' very much.

steven said...

hi crafty green - i so connect to this poem. as a young boy i used to ride into the farmer's fields to watch the sunset and then they built subdivisions all over the fields.
the bunnies and birds get well take care of by my family. steven

Gillena Cox said...

Happy New Year Juliet;
enjoyed your verses,

read me some Enid Blyton in my day; long time ago, thanks for reminding me of that joy

much love
gillena

Caroline Gill said...

Yes, I also enjoyed your poem very much ... and I DID have at tree house in our old bramley apple tree when I was a child. Talking of which, 'The Tree House' by Kathleen Jamie remains one of my all time favourite poetry books - great vision, exciting language, Scotland, the sea ... and wonderful wildlife.

Golden West said...

One of my best friends has lived in a tree house for the past ten years. He's a master carpenter, so it is very "Swiss Family Robinson". It's built in a huge avocado tree and a few of the branches go right through one wall and out the other side. It's actually very cozy - small refrigerator, electricity, portable heater, sink with an outdoor solar shower (made from 2 black garden hoses) and privy down below.

RG said...

I enjoyed "Flight Paths" too. What Hath Boeing wrought?

I think a second Scrabble post was actually the bird on Homesteading in a Detroit Condo ... maybe 3 posts back ... those guys have bunnies there now and then too.

Bill said...

Enid Blyton? I guess I'm missing something.

Blessings through the year and beyond.

mark said...

I did have a tree house, and could picture the scene so vividly. Your word choices were near perfect.

Happy New Year to you!

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Juliet, there's a poem of yours in Orbis. Congratulations.
"Dim memories..." And the sea. I enjoyed it and was happy of finding you leafing through the pages when, strangely, your name doesn't appear on the back cover among the contributors...

James said...

I really like this. The sense of loss is really well done. I suppose this feeling never really leaves me, which is a large part of why I'm so dedicated to (obsessed with) feeding the birds around my house.

Eni said...

Your having read Enid Blyton's books reminds of my childhood days during which I delved into many of them in mesmerized manner. Thus, that explains why I decided to write a book on her, titled, The Famous Five: A Personal Anecdotage (www.bbotw.com).
Stephen Isabirye

Paul said...

I've been looking at satellite photos of Britain today and it is amazing, totally frozen over and white, the whole island. Poor birds, poor people. That is a fabulous poem.

heavealie said...

well written and how the world is slowly turning into concrete jungle was well said through your words!!keep writing!!