Burnt leaves

Burnt leaves over water -

Cups of crinkled sunlight

Caught on toasted tree twigs,

Autumnal embers

Holding on by tiny tendrils,

Wrinkling in readiness

For the spiralling fall into

Waves of another life -

Banks of drifting leaf boats

Bound for watery winter voyages,

Floating in one final firey blaze,

Before sinking silty slippage into

A rich and restful soil bed

Of endings and becomings.

@Katie Rose Poetry Petals Nov 2020

Halloween Moon

Halloween Moon

Is the moon lonely hanging there,
Locked into endless orbit of an earth she will never meet,
As she daubs a creamy glow over tangled skylines?
Or is she, as the ancients said, in constant ecstatic
Symphony with the stars and heavenly bodies,
Eternally evolving through sympathetic movements
Of dark and light? And what would be the contribution
Of our dissonant lockdown emissions, the cacophony
Of human dissent and disarray which appears to make
Concord in any sphere an impossibility.
The unblinking orbit of the moon does not bat an eyelid
She has seen and heard it all before, centuries of civilisations
Rising and falling with the waves she magnetises -
So we are inextricably woven into rhythmic destiny -
The corona of tonight's Halloween Queen
Illuminates mysteries far beyond our viral confusion.

Outdoors is the New Indoors

Outdoors is the new indoors
According to the floral slogans
Of swish shopping mall doors.
Except that it always was,
Always will be,
More truthfully
Wordlessly beautiful,
More brilliantly branded,
Burnt by autumnal fire,
More full of surprise antlers
Suddenly appearing amidst
Bristling sun bronzed ferns,
More illuminated by skies
Caressed by the floating fingers
Of carefree clouds.
More embracing, encompassing
All in the coil and curl
Of endless extended tree arms.

Will I live to see the day
We discard the mangled
Manhandled monstrosities
Of barbed wire and concrete,
Abandon the deadly dance macabre
Of devastation and destruction
And join the massive banquet of life
Pulsing our feet, infusing our lungs,
Shining in the eyes of laughing children
Who rightly recognise it as home.


Yesterday's glorious walk from Wimbledon to Teddington

Walking Pauses

Walking Pauses

Poem from todays walk - 3 miles to and around South Norwood Lake and Grounds dedicated to Walk the Walk, raising awareness and funds for breast cancer.
https://walkthewalk.charitycheckout.co.uk/pf/katie-rose

Walking Pauses
Any walk is punctuated by significant pauses,
Places and spaces to breathe amidst pacing,
Rests within rhythm, silence within sound,
Where wonder entwines with wandering.
A stop to smell the roses by the church,
Scented with wistful longing for the singing
Of my choirs and the strains of orchestras
Humming in the mighty chambers of its heart.
The liberation when the clutter of streets
Opens out into an explosion of cloud across sky,
Captured in twilight's molten metallic mirror,
Captivating my meandering mind
In a moment of watery wonder.
An encounter with a feathery formation
Of snoozing ducks, whose camouflaged eyes
Glance at me with glassy suspicion,
Unconvinced by my friendly smiles.
A tug at the heartstrings, a pang of sadness
At the loneliness of a stunted, stooped man
Shuffling painfully along the water's edge,
His solitary circuits lapping the edges of mine.
Ripples of remembrance for the ones I loved
Who walked free of their dance with cancer,
The ones still held in its insistent grip
And the ones who slipped away in its arms.
- They walk on in my footsteps
And they linger in the pauses in between.

Rebel Dandelion

And today I had a moment of getting spellbound by a dandelion clock #naturesbeauty


Fluffy cloud of clockfaced perfection
Clustered amidst a tangle of brambles
And barbed wire. Spokes of time
Counted out in seed bearing spindles,
Two toned carriers of precarious
Yet potent parachuting potential
To spread a golden dandelion roar
Across another patch of scorched earth.
Weeds to gardeners, toys to children,
Glowing reminders of the tenacity of nature,
Growing in spirited, rootsy rebellion amidst
Threats and labels, litter and concrete,
Your illuminated aureole magnetises me
Into a magical contemplation of your
Beautiful face, stilling my solitary feet
And stirring that inexplicably soothing
Sense of nature's vast and wild embrace,
Where all things, tangled or fragile,
Have an unlabelled, unique place.

Rebel Dandelion, Katie Rose 29.04.20

Disinterested Ducks

Disinterested Ducks

Bird out on a limb
standing solo
centre stage
on the rubber outpost
in the lake -
gangly, diffident.
socially distant ducks
float by
completely
disinterested
in the show,
their circular motions
converging on the
the flitter flapper,
ducking diving,
splatter natter
of twilight washing.

And I wonder,
in these slower days,
do they catch a
glimpse of fresher
skies or notice the
decreased skating
of upside down trains
and planes
across the mirror
of their watery home

Do they regard
this spring,
voluminous with
fragrant blossom
and puffy leaves,
as the one when
the volume of their songs
finally got turned up
above the human melee

And will we come
to remember this spring
as the one where we painfully
disintegrated
but also returned,
our circles converging
on a quieter way
of spending our days
in the simple appreciation
of the wind wafting
through the crooked arms
and water trailing manes
of whispering willow trees
and the circular motions
of disinterested ducks
rippling across the water.

Katie Rose 18.04.20

Yellow Rose

Yellow Rose
A bud of golden hope
Just arrived at my door
Tightly coiled in the clasp
Of tiny twirling branches
Carrying the promise of
Bright spring days and
Ripening blossoms
In its furled beauty.

So these coiled days
Where we draw in,
Carry the promise of
Greater care and tenderness
When from bud we bloom
Carrying the love of those
We have lost on the branches
Of spring's golden song

These are truly extraordinary times - not least because of the outpouring of love and care which rises to sustain us amidst the grief and fear. Just wanted to say a huge THANKYOU to everyone who has sent me messages, pictures, jokes, flowers, donations, given me shout-outs, come to sing online or stopped for a socially distant chat. I really miss you all, Zoom Choirs make me mist up and my heart goes out to all frontline workers, those who are unwell, those grieving loved ones and those facing this crisis in poverty, war, violence and displacement. I hold hope that in the quiet time we are seeding potential for a huge hug fest and explosion of creativity that could help make our world a more loving, sustainable, fair, caring, beautiful place to be.

With thanks to Zuleika for the Rose