Wandering Anywhere

Leaf 273 – Reflections

 

There’s always something wonderfully liberating about watching a dog investigating the world on one of its daily walks.

 

 

Following his nose –

dog happily wandering

anywhere.

 

 

 

 

This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #vssdaily writing prompt: 'anywhere.'

Photographs by Tim Chamberlain

Petrified

Leaf 272 – Reflections

 

Fossils have always fascinated me, ever since I was very young. This poem recalls all those many dinosaur-obsessed trips I made to the Natural History Museum in London with my family when I was a child. And, of course – seeking to echo my (then) seven-year-old imagination, it strives to give a visceral expression to the arresting sight of all those ferocious-looking ancient animals frozen in time, just as if they were macabre snapshots in Medusa’s murderous photograph album.

 

 

Petrified –

the unblinking stare

of bone turned to stone.

 

 

 

 

Photograph Credits: Science/TheWire & Fernando Losada Rodríguez/Wikipedia

This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #haikufeels writing prompt: 'stare.'

Watching a Warbler

Leaf 271 – Looking Back

 

This poem was actually prompted by seeing a firecrest, rather than a warbler. I saw it startlingly close-up, flitting about the bushes and then disappearing up a tree in my old hometown, and at the time it stopped and seemed to look up at me with as much curiosity as I must have been looking back at it. I changed the species in the poem partly for phonetic reasons, but also because – well, “firecrest.” – Listen to it! – Firecrest is quite a striking name for such a small species of bird, and so I feared, in this instance at least, ornithological authenticity might derail the poem.

 

 

Watching a warbler

watching me –

eyes flit silently,

short hops jumping

from bush to bush.

 

 

 

 

Photograph credits: Alexis Lours/Wikipedia & RSPB

Pot Plants

Leaf 270 – Reflections

 

Paul Cezanne - Plant Pots (1887) Musée d'Orsay

Anyone who has worked in an office, particularly in summertime, will probably be able to relate to this poem.

 

 

Parched yellow leaves –

a row of pot plants

stuck in the office.

 

 

 

 

Mutiny!

Leaf 269 – Reflections

 

Yinka Shonibare - Nelson's Ship in a Bottle (2010)

The writing of this poem is loosely linked to a longer poem written around the same time and already posted in Leaf 159. See also, my poem ‘The Returning Wave’ in Oatleaf Magazine (July 2025).

 

 

Stuck in a bottle

muttering mutiny

until the cork pops.

 

 

 

 

Photograph credit: Cambridge 2000

Careful Paws

Leaf 268 – Looking Back

 

John Leigh-Pemberton - Hedgerow (1979)

Written in response to a #vssdaily prompt (trail) on Bluesky. I had in mind those animal trails which you often find at field boundaries, small rounded openings in hedges and the faint traces of paths through grass pastures or cereal crops which suggest it is a regular route for foxes or other sorts of unseen wildlife. In this case, I was picturing a field I know at the edge of Salcey Forest in Northamptonshire.

 

 

Careful paws –

scenting trails

from hedge to forest.

 

 

 

 

Cutting the Mist

Leaf 267 – Reflections

 

Claude Monet - Impression, Sunrise (1872)

Written in response to a #haikufeels prompt (yell) on Bluesky, but also an Art Inspired poem too – after Claude Monet’s ‘Impression, Sunrise’ (1872).

 

 

Cutting the mist

at low tide –

a longshoreman’s yell.