<\/p>\n
The old year blew us westerlies, earth-scented round artificial water and landscaped hills. whole tribes emerge and walk slowly through the mist <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sarah Watkinson<\/strong>\u00a0 has been writing poetry since 2012, following a career in science. Her work has\u00a0won prizes\u00a0and appeared in magazines including Antiphon, Ink Sweat and Tears and The Rialto. A debut pamphlet\u00a0is due out\u00a0in February 2017 with Cinnamon Press. She co-organises SciPo https:\/\/jennylewis.org.uk\/2016\/06\/15\/scipo-2016\/<\/a> Website: https:\/\/sarahcwatkinson.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Time of goodwill<\/strong><\/p>\n The elf on the shelf won\u2019t stop staring I first noticed on the 5th December But lately he covets my oak furniture land coffee table I\u2019ve noticed during the day It was just three days ago He even surprised us one morning by cooking It is now only three days maybe a new elf<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stephen Daniels<\/strong> is the editor\u00a0the\u00a0Amaryllis Poetry<\/em>\u00a0and Strange Poetry<\/em> websites. His poetry has been published or is upcoming, in numerous \u00a0magazines and websites. You can find out more at\u00a0www.stephenkirkdaniels.com<\/a> Twitter:@stephendaniels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Boxing Day The old year blew us westerlies, earth-scented and lively until the solstice. Now he sighs out his last five days in a whisper of frost. We walk in the park round artificial water and landscaped hills. Sleek birds at home in cold carve widening wakes that stay too long unruffled by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-twelve-days-of-christmas-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12905"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12957,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12905\/revisions\/12957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBoxing Day<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nand lively until the solstice. Now he sighs
\nout his last five days in a whisper of frost.
\nWe walk in the park<\/p>\n
\nSleek birds at home in cold carve widening wakes
\nthat stay too long unruffled by any breeze.
\nThe car park is full<\/p>\n
\nkids tagging along on wheels from ToysRUs
\nlike some necessary migration. Not too soon
\nNew Year’s wind and rain.<\/p>\n
\nwe bought him from marks & sparks
\nand he seems to turn
\na few degrees each evening<\/p>\n
\nwhen his glare moved
\ntowards the newly constructed tree
\nwe got from b&q<\/p>\n
\nwhile we sleep he uses the dusters from waitrose
\nto slide around its surface<\/p>\n
\nhow the sabatier kitchen knives
\nhave tiny hand prints on their blades
\nand wonder if he has been juggling them
\nor testing the edges for their sharpness<\/p>\n
\nexactly one week before Christmas
\nwe awoke to find him clinging
\nto our kenwood blender
\nthe kids said he was trying
\nto make a smoothie
\nbut I wonder
\nif his interests were more sinister<\/p>\n
\nusing our homer simpson donut maker
\nwhich we received last year from aunt carol
\nthe burning smell stirred us<\/p>\n
\nuntil he leaves
\nAnd I can\u2019t sleep \u2013
\nI shall buy a sleep aid lamp
\nfrom lakeland tomorrow
\nthat will help
\nand some nice cushions<\/p>\n