Skip to main content

ELEPHANT HAWK MOTH NOT SHOELACE (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 55)

 ELEPHANT HAWK MOTH NOT SHOELACE 55 

PodBean Link for those who like to listen


 

This morning the air is fresh after the rain. It carries the scent of green leaves. A cockerel, a distance away, crows in the morning while smaller birds sing for the new day in hedgerows nearby. 

 

Alt Text says this week’s photo is a caterpillar on a branch. It is. And I have been going out each day to observe this creature and wish it well. I have even proudly shown the postman. I love the fact that most years I get to see one of these elephant hawk moth caterpillars in the front garden, and this one has been sticking around in the same bush these past few days. This year I learned that they like to feed on fuchsia and I feel glad that I left the largest bush in the garden relatively untamed. I did wonder if I would be able to see it cocoon, but I read that they bury themselves in the soil to do this.

 

When I was young I loved Autumn for the exciting new term at school and the joy of being one year older and ready to learn different things, I enjoyed the change of colour on the trees and the way fallen leaves piled up. I fell out of love with it for a while as an adult and had to remind myself to see it as a season of its own again and not a period of time that led to Winter. Now I take time to listen to the echo of the passing of time and immerse myself in the essence of Autumn as it unfolds around me. I have been extending my walks when the sun is out to make the most of feeling the heat on my skin, and readying my favourite jumper because I sense the end of t-shirt walks soon.

 

There was sorbet from Snugbury’s ice-cream farm last week (chocolate truffle and mango) when we went to see the enormous Paddington Bear sculpture and it was lovely to be out in the world, just being, for a portion of the afternoon. I have spent a lot of time lately planning work things rather than doing work things and it was good to just leave all of that behind for a while. I like ice-cream (vegan versions) and we have a scoop and cornets here, but nothing beats eating it out in the world as a real treat. And nothing beats a moment or two in time of remembering to be.

 

If you want to lean into the season of Autumn with me I offer you two autumnal poems: Conker and They Are Autumn... (Oh and if you are wondering about the title of this blog there's a great photo of a shoelace that's not a caterpillar on my website.)


Conker

You slip out smooth;

your emergence perfect gloss.

 

You are Autumn

seemingly solid as wood.

 

I pocket you,

roll you between finger and thumb.

Palm you

as my lucky charm.

 

Yet there is a hint of death in you.

And a tree.

 

I am holding you still as I walk.

Daring myself to lick my fingers

for the taste of you.

 

 

 

THEY ARE AUTUMN

 

And they look delicious;

smooth, polished nut-brown on the ground

with their snug little green hats.

 

And I want to eat some,

but I have forgotten their name

and I am not sure if you can.

 

I give in to the temptation

to tread on some,

to feel them hold out

until they crack under the weight of me.

 

All I know is they fell from the tree.

 

Its leaves are telling me it’s an oak,

and I know so much depends upon it,

 

but it takes me all day

to remember they are acorns.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 92)

HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING     Listening Link  This morning the cool air is very welcome. It carries the vague scent of cut flower stems.   Alt text suggested this week’s photos could be a collage of a person lying on the grass or a collage of a person smiling. I say it is my author photo from 2020 alongside one of my author photos from 2025.   I still like the photo of me lying in the rosemary from five years ago, but can never unsee the single hair under the word poet which escaped my notice at the time. And I really like the recent photo. It’s actually me!   Not only can I face the camera and smile now, I am also willing to pose for more than one photo at a time. That’s a lot of progress. And I am proud and intrigued to look back and see where I have come from. Of course if you ask Kath how difficult I find it to stand still and gaze into the middle distance or how many photos we rejected along the way there is a story...
Post a Comment
Read more

LIFTED (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 108)

LIFTED Listening Link  This morning, the cool air brings the smell of hash browns as the traffic builds its familiar rush.   Alt text offers no suggestion for this week’s photo. I say it is my sister, me and my mum in the lift after coffee and before a little shopping spree. I love this moment in time from our lovely, shared day, and the fact I remembered to take a photo.   This week I learned that I am a competent pumpkin carver. Good company, a simple design idea, a whiteboard marker pen and a last-minute pumpkin purchase resulted in a Trick or Treat worthy exhibit which made me smile.   It has been like adopting a mini half-term this week... catching up with a good friend, time with family, carving that pumpkin, having a toffee apple, going to a big firework display, landing on the settee of lovely people and having a photograph taken... and perhaps there will always be echoes of school holidays even though I no longer have these as ...
Post a Comment
Read more

MY YEAR IN REVIEW (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 114)

 MY YEAR IN REVIEW   Listening Link This morning it is raining and the almost unchilled air carries strong hints of green.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a collage of a group of people. It is indeed a collage and it is made from the photos that accompanied each blog post this year. I do like to take a look back before I look forward and I thought this would be one way of doing it for 2025.   When I was little I loved an annual. To me it was a book of delightful snippets collected together to be enjoyed in a period of time that involved a break from routine. I can picture myself reading in my pyjamas, the seemingly bottomless sweet tin, and the advent calendar that left its glitter on our fingers with all its doors open telling me that it was indeed Christmas Day. This week’s photo is like the cover of my 2025 annual.   This blog has been my way of building a good relationship with Mondays, and the fact there have been 114 episodes since Sept...
2 comments
Read more