Close ☰
Menu ☰

Blog

6th April, 2022

A walk from …



Linda France

26:03:22 A Walk in the Chat Box from Cathy, Elaine, Evelyn, Geeta, Gemma, Jude, Lavinia, Linda, Mary, Sarah and Tamsin to Everyone:

Rosemary in my mouth

I consider the holly as a place for a message

where winter berries conceal spring nests

men pass buckets of concrete 

overhead in the warm alleyway

I carry the last three months with me

spring can contain winter 

and winter, spring

you’re allowed to enjoy the cherry blossom

even with such a heavy cold as this

walking out of the door – liberation

cars and birds

fox pee

dry tarmac, damp grass

sweet spring morning 

settled, stretching 

fox sleeping on jasmine

foxes and cars

and always the flowers

thighs tender

after yesterday’s gardening

early daffodils, double-headed, orange-eyed

4.30pm, feet heavy 

body cold 

crossing the paint store yard 

no mask – 

I turn back towards home 

a pile of pallets bask

in the evening sun 

in an hour or two the rats 

will come frolicking 

in their concrete playground

10.30pm, LFT positive

his pumpkin dark green 

with light longitudinal patches 

edges – curvy, organic

one shape like a Cycladic figurine

I once saw in Athens

a female figure

arms folded across the chest

others like stars on a dark evening

or leaves floating down a river

planets in a universe curving round itself

birds spin a net round my shoulders with their song

green fields and blue sky 

meet at the horizon 

stretching and yawning, waking up 

springtime – blossoming 

my baby daughter crawls around the garden 

her first time feeling the earth – Mother Earth

insidious fumes

Save Ukraine

peace chalked under my feet

birds chug-chugging away

Vinca major’s eyes, expectant mauve

a striped leg reaches up to get onto the tyre

Mummy look, Mummy look!

chirp-chirping 

a forget-me-not leaning forward to find the light

Ma…Maaa! 

the Italian sunglasses darken in the sun

Come si chiama il vostro?

Voglio andare dentro, the little girl insists 

a split-tongued beech tree 

leaning to the north

the winter fir drooping by the road

dark innards 

Mama!

Bravissima!

Oooh! whirling on the tyre, rollicking on the spring 

car roaring breaks through 

beep beep beep

a plane’s groan overhead

hellebores bow

to the spring

the acer balancing 

green lace 

with red shoots

grass bounces me up, carpet soft

except for the dog shit and cannisters

sinusitis-blunted senses

I can’t smell the scent

gorse bursting out in gold buds

on the way back a dandelion sneaks a look 

and purple lettuce weed

new green privet leaves already smeared with dust

the hum of cars 

lined up 

in a traffic jam

purposeful footsteps 

on the pavement

strains of bass 

from someone’s flat 

across the road

birds chirping 

fighting to be heard

a man exclaims No! from behind a garden wall

gentle warming breeze of spring 

the damson blossom appears 

as snowflakes

well-travelled tree 

a runner uprooted from our family home 

replanted and grown in new places 

now it belongs here 

trunk gnarled and split, but still strong 

branches reaching for the sky 

honeybees dancing between the blooms 

nature emerging from its winter sleep

bare feet on cold tiles 

silence

open door 

wind in the trees 

sounds like ocean

bare feet on soft soil

wind drops

birds sing 

bare feet on damp grass 

cars pass

tread carefully over prickly stones 

fallen twigs 

lone bee buzzing

silence, cold tiles

clicking ankles

five steps at my front door she won’t manage with her walker

a woman sits, looks at the view

shiny black hair skewed to the side 

of her neck in a tuft

I can’t hear the baby 

in the pram beside her

in her tartan pyjamas, Granny sits

one leg crossed over the other

one elbow angled on her knee 

grey spirit of her cigarette 

makes me sneeze 

small boy shrieks  

bounce around 

the trampoline cage

I poke through the fence 

to smooth as alabaster, limb-less Venus 

  gaze tilted to a Coke tin on the turf

A virtual renga curated by Linda France 

from a simultaneous/shared /solitary walk

at The Culture Capital Exchange’s Women Walking Festival

on Saturday 26th March 2022.


Refine Results

  • Select date range (from/to)

Other Blogs

TCCE

You've been waiting for it and our May newsletter is here! -> bit.ly/3M9ICG6 pic.twitter.com/Iug9eWimQQ

in association with