SUMMER SOLSTICE
This morning the air is cool and there is a welcome breeze. A hint of light citrus seems to whirl in on the air before the richness of caramel is detected in a different direction.
Alt text suggests this week’s photo could be a person sitting in the grass with yellow flowers. I say it is my sister crouched in the border in her favourite park with her head nicely positioned between two yellow roses patiently waiting for me to take a photo. I also say it was a difficult photo to try to recreate so the opportunity to seize the moment and take the photo was well embraced.
The hottest day of the year coincided with Summer Solstice, and my sister and I went on a long river walk before ending up in the park waiting for the doughnut shop to open. I love the feeling of walking in intense sunshine, but was immensely grateful for an iced coffee and a fizzy water. I still find it difficult to remember all the things to say when ordering a coffee (or asking my sister to order it for me!) and that’s why the word decaffeinated fell out of my head to make space for salted caramel and oat milk when relaying what I thought might be tasty for my first iced coffee. It is also the reason my head was still buzzing at the end of the day and sleep took a very long time to be hauled in!
This week I completed a six month set of coaching with a person I have thoroughly enjoyed working with, took great pride in the testimonial I received, met a friend in the forest for laughter and a stroll (and vegan cake), landed on the settee in the company of wonderful friends, decided I wanted a new collection of poems that was 42 poems long with every seventh featuring a bird, shared shenanigans time in a zoom room, taught one of my nephews the joy of window cleaning, and consistently came third in Mario Kart when playing against my brother and sister.
A journey to Kent saw me enjoying the driving and my playlists. Different sets of songs fit well with the different legs of the journey, and I balance these with the slices of silences I choose along the way. When I drive the familiar route, it often feels like a road movie all of its own especially when the nights are light and the sun is shining. I love the familiarity of the different sections of fields which I observe changing with the seasons, and those stretches where I am instructed to continue straight on for upwards of forty miles.
I drove my mum along the seafront on our way home from a trip out and found my mind flashing through memories. I revisited the taste of vinegary tomato ketchup on chips, the feel of the seam when wearing my rubber ring to paddle, the sound and excitement of bingo and slot machines. There was also the first time I ever drove my mum in the car and kangarooed it down her road and round the block whilst muttering a number of swear words and thinking she might need lots of persuading if she was ever to go for a drive with me again. And yet there we were decades later enjoying a smooth ride and one another’s company.
The sunny weather brings to mind the joy of simply lying down outside and watching the clouds. Here’s to moments like that and the thoughts that expand within them. This poem was first published by One Hand Clapping.
SKYLARKING
She searches the sky most days.
Never says skies;
to her that one vastness
holds so much.
Sometimes she forgets
she cannot contemplate what exists above.
There are days she wants to pull down the clouds
to build a maze.
Days she wants to swallow the small ones;
their cold candyfloss hydration.
Days she wants to lie down on the side of a hill
with someone she loves
naming every shape.
Days she thinks she would be happy
just watching everything glide by
in the colour of swans.
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