We’re in The English Garden!

Or at least the very beautiful glossy magazine by that name. You can imagine how happy I was to flick through this month’s copy to find a mention of this website by Lia Leendertz. A wonderful surprise. In fact  I was SO happy I did some serious squeaking – which isn’t so cool when you’re on a crowded train. Ho hum. Anyway moving on (which was what the other people in my carriage wished they could do when I then started to cry a little) here’s a poem about some other news from the garden for you. It’s one of mine this time, and is especially for Lia who is already a muse:

The News From the Garden

is earthshattering,

a blackbird’s made its nest

in the hawthorn tree,

*

and breaking as I write,

seedlings planted a month ago

are bursting forth, teasing

*

us with their rainbow hints,

but if you rub 
a leaf

between finger and thumb

*

you can smell summer

already; a baby is kicking 
its legs

in response at the clouds

*

rolling over her like a news tape

filled with sun-bites,

while over by the swings,

*

a camelia 
leads an uprising

of blood red against the privet,

tulips and bluebells form a coalition,

*

and even the grass strengthens its position

near where this morning, at five past eleven

dizzy with dandelion flowers

*

the cat let a pigeon fly free.

Only the plane tree, obedient

to the season follows the prompts

*

while propped up against the wall

already warming itself for glory,

the first rosebud waits for her cue.