John Rickell Poems

Statuesque, handsome, flowering
in the shade beneath wild crab
tempting as of ages, past
legends steeped in belief,
...

Fading light on our shoulders
welcome night turning blue to black
the mossy bank dark and secret
The kissing gate ceased its creaking
...

NB Sweethearts an alternative name for Cleavers; Queen Anne's Lace the flower heads of Wild Carrot.

Queen Anne's Lace silhouettes in the hedges
hawthorns bound in bindweed ties
...

I am in awe of nature love her as she me,
We are never far apart
woods and down the lane styles to lean,
gates tied with twine, hinges rusting, mossy green.
...

'What did you do at school'?
I asked.
'Drew the alphabet'
she said.
...

Does the rose beside the green front door
bloom as when I was youth.
Does the gate clash against the post
the spring that gave us rides
...

Remote and lonely baritone the first in May,
clock-work, mechanical, two notes not to be forgotten
haunting spring time solos sung from oak and ash
awakening to a spring confirmed at last.
...

Come sweet be my mistress
let me be your lover
desires to share and share alike.
This secret moss-deep hollow
...

Time long since I came
stone porch and church-pew seats
Chinese matting in the hall
broad planks to make the floor
...

The fen, black, below the road,
Dykes wide and straight,
sink of thirteen counties,
draining fields of leeks
...