haiku

lockdown -

rain drums endlessly 

on the windows

The Lost Dances of Cranes

Your fields are empty now.
Only your ghosts dance
while cranes of another kind
dance cities into being.

All that remain of you are
a fading crackle of your energy
and some grainy video footage

that people in the new cities
will watch to marvel
at the wonders the world

once held.


The International Crane Foundation works to protect crane species across the world.

**

I'm reposting this poem, because I recently discovered some online educational resources relating to it! Several years ago, this poem was included in an English language and literature text book in India, which has recently been republished as New Gulmohar Reader 8. If you are an Indian student who is using this text book, please note - I cannot help you with homework questions that relate to interpreting this poem though I can answer other questions about my poetry in general. 

You can see the page of the text book with the poem and questions on the Big Slate website.

Read more about the poem

A line by line critique of this poem on the enotes website

A discussion on my poem on the Brainly website. 

A discussion of the poem on the Eye and Contacts website.

A 20 minute Youtube lecture on my poem here, though the accompanying biography of me is wildly inaccurate.

Snowy Scenes from the Cemetery

 Yesterday there was still a lot of snow lying in North Merchiston Cemetery when we went for our #DailyExercise. With the trees mostly bare, it's easy to see beyond the cemetery to the surrounding buildings, including St Michael's Kirk (seen her alongside the silver birch tree that I'm studying for Tree Following).

The snowdrops are blooming under the snow 

while the ivy is basking in sunshine! I always like the shadows the ivy flowers / fruit make on the leaves, 

A couple of days ago we had walked under a flock of goldfinches feeding in a tree and noticed the seeds all falling to the ground, obviously the birds had carried on the feast, given the number of seeds we saw on the snow yesterday  

This weekend is Big Garden Birdwatch, you can find out more here!

Treed by Virginia Arthur

 

Maybelline visits her old town, Santa Rosa and searches out her favourite tree where she and her late husband used to picnic when they were young. Amazingly the tree is still there, but the land where it stands is for sale. Maybelline goes for dinner with the realtor (who happens to be an old friend) and finds herself  "the owner of a lot that used to be part of a 25,000-acre ranch, a 25,000-acre ranch covered in wildflowers, hawks, deer, bobcats, oak trees, all but two-acres of it now under somebody's bathroom"

Maybelline wonders why she allowed herself to be persuaded to buy the land, but as she meets children who play near the tree and finds out the connections their families also had to the tree, she comes to understand its value and the importance of what she can do to save the tree for future generations. She then finds herself in a war over the lot, which a company has earmarked to build a store, and finds common purpose with Oak and Joni, a couple of young eco-activists. Their battle to save the tree isn't easy, involving as it does endless literature searches, excess bureaucracy, greedy business owners and Joni and Oak's own personal arguments.

The story is engaging and by focussing on the details of trying to save one tree, highlights various aspects of a type of dispute becoming more common all the time and the tragedy of how small are the remnants of wilderness that are left to save in some places. The narrative also really brings to life Maybelline's conflicted feelings about getting involved in something so complicated at her advanced age and her intergenerational friendship with Joni and Oak. The story is lightened with amusing incidents too to prevent it feeling all doom and gloom. 

It's great to read a book where the protagonist is an older woman and inspiring to read of such a spirited environmental campaign to save a tree. The story would make a brilliant film! 

Treed by Virginia Arthur can be purchased by following the links on the author's website here.

Evergreens in the Snow

 Prompted by today's prompt on East Lothian Creative Club (to photograph something green) I focussed on the evergreens in snowy Saughton Park today. I'm not an expert on conifer trees i have to admit, but these two are handsome specimens

These lower branches on the yew look lovely in the low wintry sunlight

 and the hedges in the rose garden stand out nicely against the snow and the bare trees in the background looks great too

 

while there are some fading flowers still on the rose bushes

 There's also a fair amount of ivy 

and despite the sunshine there's still a lot of ice and snow around!

but that didn't stop this pair of blackbirds from having a lively argument! Though they seem to be quite happy in each other's company in this photo

Spring Greetings Card

I blogged recently about the goodie bag that East Lothian Creative Club had sent me. It contained a lovely inspiring collection of small items to use in craft projects. A few days ago, I made this greetings card which includes the floral stickers from that goodie bag along with items from my stash and green card stock that I recently bought from a 2nd-hand shop in the brief interlude when such shops were allowed to open between last year's lockdown and the current lockdown. 

 The top right hand corner is blank so that I can customise it for the appropriate occasion, though it's probably going to be an Easter card.

Snow Cats

 This really made my morning today! There was a lot of snow last night and someone made these two snow cats outside our neighbour's flat. 

The snow cats are looking into the window of the flat 

The flat is home to our favourite local cat - I wonder if she appreciates the snow cats?

Meanwhile I'm very pleased to have a haiku included in this week's Haiku Dialogue Selection.