Monday 18 March 2024

18th March 2024

 



early sunshine

and the promise of warmth

garden work


© Rachel Green March 2024


growing from a crack

in a south-facing wall

greeting the sunshine

becoming the sun.

The first dandelion of the year

with a head start over the rest of the field

a landing pad for a solitary bee.


Mum taught me to make dandelion wine;

a five gallon bucket by the side of the Aga

turning the spring

into memories of summer.


© Rachel Green March 2024


Sunday 17 March 2024

17th March 2024

 



rain dark

time for morning cuddles

play-fighting dogs


© Rachel Green March 2024


I wasn't allowed in the vegetable garden;

too many possibilities

of my treading on delicate seedlings

or falling through the glass

of one of his greenhouses.


I used to sneak there anyway;

following the cinder paths

between lines of peas and beans;

raspberries and gooseberries.

I'd eat whatever was in season;

fresh strawberries; podded legumes

the sweet tips of cabbage flowers

and just once, to my parent's horror,

the bright green cherry tomatoes

on the top of potato stalks.


© Rachel Green March 2024


Saturday 16 March 2024

16th March 2024

 



sunshine at six

cheering on the morning

cherry petal confetti


© Rachel Green March 2024


Mum's tears

as she is enveloped in my father's arms

"They say there's not much hope."


She's just back from a twenty minute walk

to the nearest phone booth,

her hands full of two and ten-pence pieces

to phone her brother in Newcastle.

Her parents are dying

but she's two hundred miles

and a twelve-hour journey away.


Sunshine through net curtains

in the front room of their house

etches their silhouettes

on my young memory.


© Rachel Green March 2024


Friday 15 March 2024

15th March 2024

actually, this one is a greengage

 


flowering cherries

the highlight of the drive

dental exam


© Rachel Green March 2024


I don't know much about polyamory

just that I love several people

at the same time.

It's not that hard, really:

have you ever loved both your parents?

all of your children?

more than one beloved pet?


It's a lot easier to dismiss people

than it is to actively hate them.

Don't let them be individuals to you;

dehumanise them, make them scapegoats

for all the ills you can't control.

Lost a war? Blame the Jews.

Don't want to do menial tasks?

deem a whole caste of people as 'untouchable.'

Need to feel superior?

Divide people by skin colour.

Need to divert attention from mismanagement?

Decide that one part of the population

is responsible for all the nation's troubles

and demonise the LGBT community.


Wait, did I already say that one?

Yes. They're all the same solution

to the systemic insecurity

of Fascism.


© Rachel Green March 2024


Thursday 14 March 2024

14th March 2024


 


unshine

behind the cloud cover

calling crows


© Rachel Green March 2024


I don't remember

what the argument was about

but my sister (the dead one)

slammed a pot of margarine onto my head

and said "don't you dare" when I threatened

to return the favour.

Dad stopped the fight, 

in despair that his children bickered

after the death of their mother

but the taunts and hatred

over my now-greasy hair

led me to start self-harming

a private means to assert control

over a world that owed me nothing.


© Rachel Green March 2024


Wednesday 13 March 2024

13th March 2024

 



deep mud

on the woodland path

dogshit


© Rachel Green March 2024


Mother

made me brush my teeth

morning and night without fail

but after she died,

dental phobia overtook me

(hardly surprising in 1970's Britain

where dental pain was mandatory

for all NHS patients)

and now I'm at that age

where half my teeth are gone

and I laud the use of a sonic toothbrush.


My ultimate advice to my younger self

would be to brush more thoroughly,

invent the electric toothbrush,

and get puberty blockers

because the anti-woke right wing

have made them illegal again.


© Rachel Green March 2024


Tuesday 12 March 2024

12th March 2024

 



cautious sparrows

hiding in the undergrowth

next door's cat


© Rachel Green March 2024


everyone remembers

the 'eye for an eye' adage

but few recall the instruction

to destroy the children

of those who destroy property.

Boney M sang of Psalm one-three-seven

and lauded the resistance movement

by the waters of Babylon

but they missed out the bit

where it instructs everyone

to dash the children against the rocks


© Rachel Green March 2024