Murmuration
Snow rags thaw
to a skylark scaling octaves of air,
to a chill swallow christened sky
and in the cut balsam bee gloved and pouting,
seeds’ hooks and burs drifting to sun cracked shadow,
to crocus yolk and fungus dew,
daffodils’ choir of smiles.
But something at the lane’s dead end
freezes the heat –
is it rooks blackening to witch litter
or the pond sparkling stagnant
or the starlings’ shifting blizzard
like the dust of a shadow
cooling to roost.
Ian Clarke was born Wisbech, Cambridgeshire 1954 He started writing in his mid teens, received early encouragement from Pete Brown, British Beat poet and lyricist for rock group Cream. His collection A Slow Stirring is published by Indigo Dreams.