Today's poet

[Nathaniel Lee]

Cheers Stevie. I certainly find that a compliment.Big Plath fan you know. Both of us Manic Depressive too which is why i can appreciate her darker works as i have been in the same place. Nice choice of poem and i do hope you will return regularly.

[XRunner]

Gap in the market for some nettle 'rub' me thinks.

The canny Scots have already discovered this lotion:

Gin ye be for lang kail coo the nettle, stoo the nettle
Gin ye be for lang kail coo the nettle early
Coo it laich, coo it sune, coo it in the month o' June
Stoo it ere it's in the bloom, coo the nettle early
Coo it by the auld wa's, coo it where the sun ne'er fa's
Stoo it when the day daws, coo the nettle early."

Old Wives Lore for Gardeners

[XRunner]

The Stinging Truth About Nettles.

Another use of nettles:

http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/reprint/93/6/305.pdf

[XRunner]

The Effortless Point

Three long-distant-runners
out for buoyancy
pad by me, leaving the weed tassles a-waggle
and are past the sumach clump and
fleet, into brightness flowing,
they bear along

I had to look out for a sumach clamp.

[Harry H Howgill]

Richard Rolle (1290–1349) was an English religious writer, Bible translator, and hermit.[1] He is known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since after years of wandering he settled in Hampole, near the Cistercian nunnery.

According to Wiki.

Must be true then!

I wonder why he eventually stopped his wanderings near a nunnery?

[Harry H Howgill]

The Effortless Point

Three long-distant-runners
out for buoyancy
pad by me, leaving the weed tassles a-waggle
and are past the sumach clump and
fleet, into brightness flowing,
they bear along

lungs
all rinsed with morning.

For Richard Rolle, swift in the strength of stillness,
flowed light, and the out there flooded
his pulses
leaping these six centuries -
love breathes him alive.


Moving into sky
or stilled under it
we are in the becoming
moved: let wisdom learn
unnoticing in this.



Margaret Avision
From her anthology 'sunblue'

Found this in a second hand bookshop this morning while muching around Barney Castle -ain't it just lovely, or what? Sadly the FRA formatting won't allow me to post it in its orginal spacing.

I love the "lungs all rinsed with morning" line.

It took me a while to get going today following a tough run yesterday so I appreciate the line. A few deep breaths of moorland air and the crys of Oystercatcher and I felt better again.

[Harry H Howgill]

Hello again, it's been a while since I was last here, and there are some names I don't even recognise.

Anyway, since spring is upon us, and everything is good, a quick attempt at a couple of verses.

Spring in my step, daylight running!
Snowdrops, crocus, primrose, daffodils
Banishing the long long winter at last.
Soon bluebells. I have been reborn.

But wait, look in the shade there -
Nettles waiting to rise and strike.
Soon bracken will unfurl noxious ferns,
Cow parsley rising again to crowd the path.

Tangling bramble and dog mercury in the forest.
Crops rising in fields to scratch my legs.
Picnickers spoiling the peace and quiet.
Oh I can't wait for Autumn...

I don't really mean it! It's just that sooner or later, in mid summer, probably when it's raining and the nettles are drooping across the paths and stinging hard, I just long for the empty landscape of winter. Terrible really, to wish my life away like that. But spring is great, and it's also good to catch up with what's happening on the poetry forum.

Steve

Nice to see you back Steve.

I'm only just getting over the winter and appreciating the warmth of the sun again. May it long continue, although we might be in for a cold snap again next week. I hope it is a long hot summer.

A great poem too

[Harry H Howgill]

Teasing Ringed Plover
It was you I spotted on
Friday. Welcome back.

[Mossdog]

I had to look out for a sumach clamp.

Personally, I've always liked nettles. As kids we used to pluck the white flowers off and suck the sugar from the base. Well there was nowt else to do in the wilds of Devon In the pre-digital age, that is. Kid's nowadays eh! Don't know they're born...I ask you? Hey! Another use for nettles, you could skip on carrying all those jelly babies - that's brill! Fell Running Ray Mears style

[Mossdog]

Must be true then!

I wonder why he eventually stopped his wanderings near a nunnery?

Now HHH your just being mischievous and irreverent (again!)