The Art of Listening - by
Hunt out wild flowers,
reach out, not to pick them
but as an offer of intimacy.
listening
On Hearing for the First Time - by
‘It sounds very very high’
/
/ and she sobs for the joy of it,
/ for the reds and blues of it,
/ the shock, the…
Soondscapes - by
I da dizzied hoose, a strum of flechs baet
/ endless drums fornenst a frenzied window.
/ Belligerent, dey want nedder in nor oot.
/
/ Apö…
I have lost my bearings - by
It is time to go north. I want / to listen to silence and unpick its voices: / the wind…
from The Cherrie and The Slae - by
About ane bank, where birds on bewis
/ Ten thousand times their notis renewis
/ Ilk hour into the day,
/ The…
‘By lone St. Mary’s silent lake’ - by
By lone St. Mary’s silent lake:
/ Thou know’st it well,—nor fen nor sedge
/ Pollute the pure lake’s crystal edge;
/ Abrupt and sheer, the…
Sounds of the Day - by
When a clatter came,
/ it was horses crossing the ford.
/ When the air creaked, it was
/ a lapwing seeing us off the premises
/ of…
Listen. Put on morning - by
Listen. Put on morning.
/ Waken into falling light.
/ A man’s imagining
/ Suddenly may inherit
/ The handclapping centuries
/ Of his one minute on earth.
/ And hear the…
Nameless - by
Its light is in the grass,
/ Its yearning in the white gull’s cry
/ And…
Thwok! - by
up loops a lob with a teasing temerity
leaps in the air in defiance of gravity
puts it away with a savage severity
coupled with suavity
Safe Sounds - by
You like safe sounds:
/ the dogs lapping at their bowls;
/ the pop of a cork on a bottle of plonk…
Unaccompanied - by
It’s raining at the garden centre.
/ I walk through dripping aisles of potted herbs
/ in a cool green rinse of aniseed and…