30th April 2019

cowslips
under a break in the clouds
bluebell woods


© Rachel Green 2019

 garden gate
made of driftwood
and sun-bleached tree bones.
An artist after my own heart
I could have made that
and no-one would know.
The dogs tread past with sand-strewn pawprints
intent on the next scent,
the next path.

© Rachel Green 2019 

29th April 2019

overweight fathers
under a darkened sky
post Easter schoolkids

© Rachel Green 2019

 bad dreams again
a discussion of psychotherapy
offered but declined.
Honestly, at sixty quid an hour
I rather have another dog.
Maybe I'll do dog walking for fun


© Rachel Green 2019

28th April 2019

scattered sunshine
brings out the cornflowers
sudden rain

© Rachel Green 2019

 anticipation
a week on the Gower
with the promise of sunshine
and dogs on the beach.
It doesn't mean I'm not stressed.
I don't like to be away from safety.


© Rachel Green 2019

27th April 2019

wild arum
drooping in the rain
dancing ladies

© Rachel Green 2019

 night terrors
witchcraft
and defacement
a spurned lover's revenge
returns to haunt me
fitful sleep
leaves me tired and hungry

© Rachel Green 2019

26th April 2019

thunderstorm
brings sunnun downfall
Welsh poppies

© Rachel Green 2019

 guilt
over eating pizza
but it was so good.
Why do I exercise
when I'm not losing weight?
At least I'm fitter
than I've been in years.
Cigarettes brought thinness
but denied fitness.

© Rachel Green 2019

25th April 2019

one day of rain
and the garden lights up
lavender spikes

© Rachel Green 2019

 dreams
beset by Lovecraftian beasts.
Defending the house
with an old katana
and wishing the rapiers
were still sharp


© Rachel Green 2019

24th April 2019

chill wind
ruffling the new cornflower plants
furtive sparrows


© Rachel Green 2019

 no
just no
stop


© Rachel Green 2019

Journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead during riots in the Creggan area of Derry, Northern Ireland, on 18 April 2019 (AFP/Jess Lowe Photography)

23rd April 2019

apple blossom
heady with nectar
the hum of bees

© Rachel Green 2019

 gym fail
hospital appointment overlaps
no time for exercise.
Happy to find a later task
cancelled for happy circumstances.
Aimee has tanants
no need to house-sit

© Rachel Green 2019

22nd April 2019

heat haze
the hum of bees on the rosemary
melting chocolate

© Rachel Green 2019

 isolation
the silence of the world
and the humming of computer fans


© Rachel Green 2019

21st April 2019

heat haze
the first black tulip
loses its petals

© Rachel Green 2019

 Holiday stress
among the chocolate eggs
are suitcases
they leave in an hour
a flight on Easter Day
to the most Catholic country in the world
I'll stay home with the dogs
and watch the fire consume Ilkley Moor


© Rachel Green 2019

20th April 2019

heat haze
burning the apple blossom
last year we had snow,

© Rachel Green 2019

 New houses
built by the council
to house needy families.
Three months later
all boarded up
steel shutters on the doors
and windows.
Watch them get sold for profit
by a local councilman
coming soon

© Rachel Green 2019

19th April 2019

morning heat
stipping the cherry petals
street pigeons

© Rachel Green 2019

 excited people
all going away.
Some for the weekend,
some for the whole week
Just the dogs and I
and an evening fire.

© Rachel Green 2019

18th April 2019

warm afternoon
mowing the lawn in a tee shirt
bright aubretia

© Rachel Green 2019

 avoiding conflict
I skip another session.
It's funny how many men
don't want to roll with a woman
and especially a transwoman.
Better to save their feelings
than risk being ostracised again.
Sir! It's not fair!
She only beat me
because she used to be a man.
Gee, sir, chill...
I've been a woman longer
than you've been alive.

© Rachel Green 2019

17th April 2019

dog frolicking
among the ramsons
cowslips

© Rachel Green 2019

 Moose
a trip to the vet
suffering with an infected cat bite
His allergies
causing him to pull out his fur
the house a mess
covered in hairballs

© Rachel Green 2019

16th April 2019

overcast sky
providing dismay
temporary traffic lights


© Rachel Green 2019

 emptying their piggy bank
for an upcoming holiday
six months of savings
result in a goodly sum
Italian sunshine

© Rachel Green 2019

15th April 2019

birdsong
caught on the cherry blossom
my mother's hair


© Rachel Green 2019

 bucket list tick
racing green Jag
parked on the road.
He's very pleased:
wanted one for years
and now he has one
Five hundred quid
and a small orgasm
in the leather seats

© Rachel Green 2019

14th April 2019

blue sky
contrasting the rosemary flowers
the contrail of an aircraft


© Rachel Green 2019

 fine paper
a give from a visitor
fellow artist
sculptor
minor marvel
It behooves me to draw well
(for a change)
and not be intimidated
by the quality

© Rachel Green 2019

13th April 2019

cloudy skies
backlit by sunshine
fresh leaves

© Rachel Green 2019

 old door
sagging on its hinges
covered by fencing.
What stories it had
when it was new
and freshly painted
and still had a bar
to push to open.
It deserves a painting;
a comemmoration
of life thereafter.

© Rachel Green 2019

12th April 2019

sunshine and blue skies
along the border
scattered seeds of zinnia and onions


© Rachel Green 2019

 The cat
steadily losing weight
and now fur.
You'd think she'd stop
being suck a picky eater
but no.
Eighteen years old
h
er main exercise
is taunting the dogs

© Rachel Green 2019

11th April 2019

no sunshine
just the burgeoning leaves
and the litter


© Rachel Green 2019

 tasteless apples
in the fruit bowl.
I can hear my mother
talking about starving children
in another continant
and I can't throw them away.
Mind you,
she also believed in a God
who punishes children.
Fuck you, apples.

© Rachel Green 2019

10th April 2019

comfrey
peering shyly from the undergrowth
used condoms

© Rachel Green 2019

 Kondoing
for pleasure?
Just stop buying shit, girl.
Throw those unsold paintings,
unused art supplies
decapitated mannequins.
You don't need to be 'arty'
or 'eclectic'
No need for bookshelves
or boxes of computer parts.
Just a pen, a scalpel
and a decent PC

© Rachel Green 2019

9th April 2019

£50, no takers.

bin day
a new crop wind-blown plastic
caught in the dogwood


© Rachel Green 2019

 table for sale
an original piece of art
painted on a coffee table.
It's seen some action,
this sturdy piece of wood;
bought in the nineties
it served as a spanking bench,
a bondage table
a piercing booth.
Now for all those people who complained
that I burned a few paintings
I offer it up for fifty quid.
No takers,
unless I drop the price
by half a ton.

© Rachel Green 2019

8th April 2019

shiving birch
rotated by gusting winds
my dog's ears

© Rachel Green 2019

 darling buds
prised loose by morning gales
I am woken by the shed roof
taking flight across the pond
where brambles claw at innocents
and the remains of last year's iris
scatter dark seeds across the dark water

© Rachel Green 2019

7th April 2019

sparrows
mating behind the tool shed
teenagers


© Rachel Green 2019

 Sunday morning
clear air but overcast
and a slight breeze.
Chesterfield
smells of new growth and misanthropy
while in the woods
grow hedge parsley and ransoms
and an early crop of cider cans

© Rachel Green 2019

6th April 2019

overcast sky
blasted by cold winds
fresh aquilegia foliage

© Rachel Green 2019

 rusty skills
put back to work
merory searched
some moves come naturally
positioning for hip throw
knee-on-belly
others less so
remember the bow and arrow?


© Rachel Green 2019

5th April 2019

wet grass
under the morning unshine
budding ramsons

© Rachel Green 2019

 blue crates
that look useful
stackable
something to do with fast food
nut fuck knows what
there are loads of them
holding nothing
but each other,


© Rachel Green 2019

4th April 2019

"Birch, Wind, Plastic bags" 2019

borders
filling up with new growth
sudden shower

© Rachel Green 2019

 she asks questions
innocent ones, it seems,
like traumatic episodes
including violence, rape...
did I have gamete storage
and do I miss my mother?
The rest of the day in tears
shellshocked emotions
things I long thought dealt with
ar at least buried deeply enough
they couldn;t rise to torment the living.
I don't need counselling
just a memore wipe.


© Rachel Green 2019 

3rd April 2019

Jack
making crazy patterns on the car roof
excited magpies

© Rachel Green 2019

 following
the idea of progress
a renovation in progress
in the damp and the stink
of what has gone before


© Rachel Green 2019

2nd April 2019

overnight rain
sharpening the fresh greens
schoolboy's phone

© Rachel Green 2019

 dim lights
flicker like an old movie
where a murderer lurks
in an old dark house.
if this was a movie
she'd know better than risk the cellar
but this is life
and her phone has a torch function
and there's no such thing as the supernatural
just rats and pigeons
and the squatter who moved in
when her dad died


© Rachel Green 2019

1st April 2019

Unshine
bright clouds bring glimmers of light
plum blossom

© Rachel Green 2019

 The Great Reduction
The crate of my first editions
and signed copies
put up for sale.
I'd rather have the space
and the peace of mind
than a myriad of books
I'll never read again.
Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman,
Ben Aaronovich
Brad Listi and Graham Joyce,
I still love the novels
but I don'
t need the physicality of them
anymore.

© Rachel Green 2019