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<\/p>\n
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As we climbed the slope<\/strong><\/p>\n we’ve followed the route of the old stone wall Just right of the lych-gate Other lives, signs of roots’ growth rituals In the undergrowth beside the set i.m. Richard Harris & Jane Harris-Sprague<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Julie Sampson<\/strong><\/a>‘s poetry has been widely published and placed in competitions. Edited Mary Lady Chudleigh; Selected Poems<\/em><\/a> (Shearsman, 2009); collection, Tessitura<\/a> (Shearsman, 2014). Both from Amazon<\/a>. Non-fiction MS., ‘Women Writers in the Devon Landscape’, shortlisted for The Impress Prize, 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we climbed the slope we’ve followed the route of the old stone wall dappled light’s playing tricks of blue on bells then shaping and sharing our way as it shades upwards over cobbled-path’s curves; a scatter of white flowers lines the path, as shattered bone. Just right of the lych-gate at\u00a0 […]<\/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":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13704","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=13704"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14062,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13704\/revisions\/14062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ndappled light’s playing tricks of blue on bells
\nthen shaping and sharing our way
\nas it shades upwards over cobbled-path’s
\ncurves; a scatter of white flowers
\nlines the path, as shattered bone.<\/p>\n
\nat\u00a0 the summit of long Pilgrim’s Avenue
\nbelow the site of Okehampton’s Saxon church,
\nthere’s the black-hole of a badger’s set
\nand its over-stitched white garlic spread.
\nWe’ve stumbled on a place of crossings.
\nFamily labyrinths are running beneath and across
\nthis graveyard’s Styx. Badger is Charon,
\ngrave plunderer, under-
\nground ferryman.<\/p>\n
\nspread, like lichen
\non our Harris slab.
\nStones have toppled; one
\nis ours; she’s covered with
\npretty stitchwort, pennywort,
\ncreeping moss.<\/p>\n
\nwhere badger cubs sleep
\nthe genetic threads of family
\nweave with the thriving microbial community –
\nskeletons’ hosting
\nmoles, earthworms –
\ndelicate the little-springtail.<\/p>\n