Four Poems by Lara Dolphin

 

Microseasons of Love

 

BEGINNING OF SPRING

Economic headwinds return
Kids run amok on half-term
Burberry struts along the catwalk



RAINWATER

Brollies come out to play
It’s Pancake Day
Orchids put on a show at Kew



INSECTS AWAKEN

Tea with mum
Cherry trees turn out in Greenwich Park
Pints flow at Waxy O’Connor’s



SPRING EQUINOX

Daffodils bloom
Lights go dark for an hour
Boats race across the Thames



PURE & CLEAR

Cuckoos return–Cuckoo!
Smarten up; it’s the Grand National
Santander cycles weave through town



GRAIN RAINS

St. George’s Day
The Marathon is underway
Abed with the dreaded lurgy



BEGINNING OF SUMMER

Readiness is all
Bees begin to buzz
Whiffs of cut grass fill the air



LESSER RIPENING

Till and sow
Hours of weeding the garden
Live music/street food vibes



GRAIN BEARDS & SEEDS

An obbligato of babies in prams
Victorian koi circle a pond
Strawberries turn bright red



SUMMER SOLSTICE

A naked peloton protests petroleum
Butterflies flit through fields of lavender
The sun shines bright at Ruislip Lido



LESSER HEAT

Sir Cliff serenades Centre Court
RHS Hampton Court Palace shows off
Young rabbits and stoat kits scamper



GREATER HEAT

Blackcurrants and blueberries ripen
Earth swelters–dog days
Swimmers cool off at Canary Wharf



BEGINNING OF AUTUMN

Harebells and heather flower
Dragonflies are on the wing
The lungs of London exhale



MANAGEABLE HEAT

Ducks dip in water
Lady’s tresses show cream and ivory
Steel bands sound through Notting Hill



WHITE DEW

Gigs and skiffs race from Millwall
Autumn colours start to show
Hops vine around and around



AUTUMN EQUINOX

Wood mice gather hazelnuts
Starlings dine on elderberries
Farmers plant winter wheat



COLD DEW

Temperatures drop
Red deer rut
Apple picking season arrives



FROST FALLS

Supernatural screams haunt the Tube
Wild boar feast on fallen fruit
Pegasus lights the northern sky



BEGINNING OF WINTER

Bats begin to hibernate
Flanders poppies flourish
Salmon rush upstream



LESSER SNOW

Leaves fall
Skaters glide across the ice
Fox cubs light out



GREATER SNOW

Woollen coats come out of storage
Goldfinches descend on feeders
Holly berries blaze in crimson



WINTER SOLSTICE

Choral voices fill the air
Big Ben rings out
Fireworks light the sky



LESSER COLD

Wassailers bless the trees
Bargain shoppers hunt for sales
Brown trout start to spawn



GREATER COLD

Crocuses push through the snow
Swans flock to open lakes
Wee drams raise to auld lang syne

This Christmas I Will Be Gifting You From The Fly-Tip In My Front Yard

After a year chasing bad actors off my lawn,
I’m hanging up my night vision goggles and cricket bat.
I can’t afford to have the stuff hauled,
and I can’t leave it in front of my house.
So this yuletide season, I’m giving it away.

One lucky friend will get a set of three pretty good tyres.
I stuck a bow on a half empty can of paint.
I combed through bric-a-brac and put it in party bags.
I plugged in a dented Chef Mike,
and it still works (sort of), so I’m wrapping that.

I can see what you’re thinking.
You don’t really need a gently used mattress
or discards from a DIY project.
Never fear! If you don’t like your gifts from me this holiday,
feel free to dump them somewhere else.




Fancy Dress Race



from boroughs and beyond
they converge on Blackheath
how do you run in full costume?
why do you?

for fun, for charity, for glory?
to be the fastest person
dressed as a mythical creature
dressed as a world landmark?

the course doesn’t care
the weather, your strategy and pacing
your quads, your knees and ankles
can you use the portable loo in that outfit?

volunteers and medics stand ready
as runners make their way
past miles of cheering Londoners
along the Thames converging on The Mall

more than a love letter,
a salute to the spirit of a city
a promise set in motion
to finish what was begun

enduring, triumphant
marked by style and grace
by pain and sacrifice
by grace and good cheer




The Nation That Doesn’t Want To Be A Brueghel



About suffering they are never wrong,
The Ugandans: how reluctantly they concede
To its hierarchy: how it lingers
Over phone batteries dying and getting coffee orders wrong;
How, when the elders are earnestly, fervently waiting
For the blessed rain, there will necessarily be
Children who complain that they do not want it, kicking
A football ball near the edge of town:
They never doubt
That Maslow’s pyramid must be climbed from the bottom
Anyhow in a field, some weathered soil
Where women harvest sweet potatoes before weevils
Arrive with the dry season.

In Brueghel’s Gallows, for instance: how everything taunts
Quite pointedly the authority; the dancers may
Have seen the scaffold, the leafless tree
But for them it is of small regard; the state endures
As it has for decades of enforced disappearances
And the chattering magpies that must have seen
Something astonishing, a country about to come undone,
Perch nearby and mimic the cries of the poor.

~after Musee des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden

Lara Dolphin - A native of Pennsylvania, Lara Dolphin is an attorney, nurse, wife and mom of four amazing kids. Her chapbooks include In Search Of The Wondrous Whole, Chronicle Of Lost Moments, and At Last a Valley forthcoming from Blue Jade Press.