Tag Archives: winter

Dead of Winter

February 4, 2021winterGhosts, Milk and Cake Press, published poem, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

I have two poems (Lilbourne and Summer Queen) in this great Anthology from Milk and Cake Press. It examines the dark, the supernatural, and the uncanny of a long, cold winter. As we move from the depths of winter toward spring, and from pandemic isolation to a more normal life, these poems may be the perfect companion. Please buy a copy now!

Dead of Winter: An Anthology

Lilbourne is a poem about ghosts who linger in and near Milton Lilbourne in Wiltshire, while

Summer Queen retells Rumpelstiltskin in a prehistoric setting.

Friday Poem: There’s a certain Slant of light

January 29, 2021Friday Poem, poem, Poetry, winterEmily Dickinson, Friday Poem, poem, poetry, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons —
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes —

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us —
We can find no scar,
But internal difference,
Where the Meanings, are —

None may teach it — Any —
‘Tis the Seal Despair —
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air —

When it comes, the Landscape listens —
Shadows — hold their breath —
When it goes, ’tis like the Distance
On the look of Death —

by Emily Dickinson

Pollarding the Hazel

January 16, 2021garden, poem, Poetry, winterGardening, Hazel, poem, poetry, pollard, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

Mist loiters on the edge of vision
our overgrown hazel reaches up
pleading, as we snip and saw

Time and the Winter

December 19, 2020Corona, poem, Poetry, wintercorona virus, Covid 19, poem, poetry, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

Leaves are lost in the wind
that complains all the night

Today I walked, bartered space with others on the street
apart, always to be apart now
then, tired of it all, came home to play with words

Winter prepares to enter bodies
it may have already entered my heart

Winter evening 2020

December 7, 2020poem, Poetry, winterMoon, poem, poetry, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

Moon cut like watermelon
lights rags of clouds
making a ghost chandelier

Summer’s loss

September 12, 2020beauty, Fantasy, nature, poem, Poetry, summer, winterautumn, equinox, Mythology, poem, poetry, summer, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

Heart broken she withdraws
as every winter
into dark soil
as every winter

The promise of the stars nightly turning
the sinking and turning of constellations
the track of planets wandering across the sky
say that she will return

Time past she was encouraged
by midwinter fires
now we trust to orbital mechanics

Bone, bird and air

February 1, 2020beauty, England, nature, poem, Poetry, Wild life, winterbird, nature, poem, poetry, Red Kite, wildlife, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

Bone, bird and air
conspire to create grace
joy, a tumbling skydance
life exuberant, bright
triumphant over cold and hunger
here this icy winter day
knitted in those bones
are genes we share
we each breath the air
but only she flies
painting her joy onto the sky
cavorting into heaven

Winter Dance

December 21, 2019history, poem, Poetry, winterdance, history, Neolithic, poem, poetry, prehistory, solstice, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

The long dance of winter
starts slow as starlight
children stamping hard cold ground
cracking ice over peat

Slipping through fog’s silence
the women have donned heavy antlers
to creep around the trees
circle the swamp
clasp hands and spin
as the sun spins and turns
so do they

Men spurt from the longhouse
Pelts moist with sweat
Leap and cry out

Songs build to a crescendo again and again
until the true sun reveals herself
and we put out our puny fires
sit
eat
laugh

I haven’t written a poem imagining our pre-historic ancestors for a long while. Others on this blog can be found at:

https://thecheesesellerswife.wordpress.com/2019/01/30/crafty-eyes-see-the-deer-2/

https://thecheesesellerswife.wordpress.com/2019/06/22/the-aurochs-and-the-pink/

https://thecheesesellerswife.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/we-live-on-the-high-ground-2/