It’s a strange world
when a single word
can get under your skin

stopping your breath
feeling like death
with weights on your wings

trapped in a triangle
freedom is dangling
beyond reach on a string

visitor
lovely
go places
share food
wave goodbye
sit down

Sun comes out
It's hot
Sun goes in
It's not

Travel company cancelled
Good!
I can choose a new holiday

I sit listening
looking through the scaffolding
hearing builders' din

The Roofer
tapped a slate
tenderly
looked up
said "Hi"

Five syllables (short)
Seven syllables (longer)
and five more to end

No place is a desert
There is life
somewhere
everywhere

Rivers and hills pass
I doze
Wake up in Scotland

A Pleasant Contagion
The light in the eyes
of one who feels loved
affects all who meet them
they do not know why

Blue is beautiful
on bluebells and sky
not on moods

Smiling assistants
with my luggage
worth being called
'The old lady?

Naming storms after people
is not appreciated
by those persons

Thieves cut down the tree
that provided privacy
shelter and beauty

Here lies Janet Aitch
Janet who?
Never heard of her!

Iona
Place of pilgrimage-
if wind
hasn't halted
the ferry

An old-established confectioner
claims his mints "keep you all aglow"
makes me think of old-time buying
from people serving
behind marble counters
the picture on the packet
shows an arc of blues expressing delight
I'm trying a mint ball now -
and it's all right.

New perm
Keep dry
Clouding over
Umbrella?
At hairdresser's
Run!

So much stuff
he uses a small paintbrush
To dust

Valentine's day
passed without incident
apart from learning
his history

'People are funny'
Good thing!
Imagine
If they were not

Folded in my hands
a nestling, a tiny bird
hardly old enough to hop or fly
let alone step over my windowsill
from the hazelbush outside
Caught, before it could panic
and throw itself at the window
It rests quietly
then darts off, in relief
at being free

If you're (gasp)
waistband
doesn't (ooh)
fasten
wear something else

The poetry group
teaches us many new things
including Haiku

Turrets and towers rise
Castle broods
History hugs my heels

Who could invent more
than spring has already
begun to display?
what poetic lens
could improve on
her wild, yet gentle,
detailed unwrapping
of colours, flowers,
leaves, textures
revealing, unfolding,
teasing, rewarding,
nodding and dancing,
joyfully singing
her perpetual
ever-new refrain?

I sat down this morning
to catch up on mending
but the day was so dark
it made the dog bark
I peered at the sewing
couldn’t see where it was going
so I put it away
That’ll do for the day

Tenderly drawing a book
from its place on the shelf
noting the decrepit
state of its spine
pages so yellowed
as to be almost orange

I steep myself
in the tiny print
and antique wording
and pray for the grace
to fathom is depths
and grasp its meaning

Learning about clouds
is a major part
of the study of weather
The subtle changes
as clouds cluster,
merge, divide
in the blink of an eye
presage a storm
with lightning
flashing across their circumference
or
alternatively
forecast a day of calm

Antiques shops
fascinate, absorb the eye
and the imagination
Who may have owned
this intricately worked
elaborate confection of silver
set with jewels?
Did a miner fashion it
for a lover or a wife?
Did the longing for warmth of home
spill over into craftsmanship
so delicate it looks
as though a speck of dust
would disarray it?

I wonder

If Philosophy is a search
for the meaning of life
the first step to consider
is whether one is alive

I write on Fridays
because the group meets
not otherwise

I'm waiting for a phone call.
Sounds good, doesn't it.

Two things we know
about Janet Aitch
She won't have a poem
and she's always late

but the sharing we give
of laughter and pain
give her something to write on
and we have her back again

Scottish Country Dancing
Poetry in motion
until you get
tangled

No rhyme,
No rhythm,
No reason,
No poem,
No satisfaction

Perhaps the cat
catches mice
that might otherwise
bother me

With mingled feelings
of sadness and joy
I read the note
found tucked in a handbag
being given away

It brought back faint echos
unsettling thoughts
of relationships broken
of good times and sour

Only a note
but it casts such a spell
It quite overpowered me
'til the phone woke me harshly
and I came back to now

Social distancing
comes naturally to Brits
who like their own space

Sun in my eyes
Can't see to write
Relax!
Guilt-free

The bluetits dash about
The blackbird sings
The robins flick their tails
and bounce
The thrush rustles
through the dead leaves
and the blackbird sings

Soon there will be eggs to coddle
nestlings to feed
and the blackbird will be too busy
to sing

Rain
Tests your shoes
Wets your feet
Pleases shoe shops

Had haircut
Look better
feel happier
Good start to day

A smidgen  of snow
slows everything
To a slithering stop

I'd like to think
"Someone,
somewhere
remembered me
with kindness"

I unwillingly awakened
far too early
and birds were singing

"I do tree root climbing"
"I fell from a hedge"

Sunshine
shows dust
right where you know
you just dusted

Raspberries
glow enticingly
in the hedgerow
Pity about the nettles

I'm knitting
a gold cardigan
bringing warmth
to winter sunshine