{"id":3775,"date":"2012-12-28T09:00:55","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T09:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=3775"},"modified":"2020-12-14T11:16:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T11:16:54","slug":"3775","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/3775\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fourth Day of Christmas: Sarah James"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me<\/em><\/p>\n

Four calling birds\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

[calling birds is a corruption of the original colly or collie birds \u2013 blackbirds]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

The Calling<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Against winter sun, a Christmas card
\nseen in a moment\u2019s stillness,
\nsilhouetting blackbirds in a leafless tree.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then, the breaking open of an instant,<\/p>\n

song loosed from each beak, as orange
\npeel sometimes zesting dry grass,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

other times bright with red berries
\nand claw trails pitting through snow.<\/p>\n

Sudden gifts from the hedgerow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A chimney sweep of tail brushes air<\/p>\n

across air, leaves no stain behind<\/p>\n

in its undergrowthed wake.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, observed as it happens: that fall<\/p>\n

of leaves, song from a beak,<\/p>\n

snow from clouds, night from sky\u2026<\/p>\n

feathers from feathers, then rising again,
\nas one, two, three \u2013 shake out that plumage \u2013<\/p>\n

four colly birds might right now lift into flight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Falling<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bright with summer sun, a postcard
\nscene of flitting curves and blondness,
\nsilhouette dolly birds upon the beach.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then, the slipping open of glossed lips,<\/p>\n

a-drawl-come-simper-whisper drools<\/p>\n

to rest sometimes between their\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other times, see their trolleys laden<\/p>\n

with booze and cherries for cocktails.<\/p>\n

Sudden gifts from the silly aisles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A flamboyant flick of hair brushes air<\/p>\n

across lipsticked face, leaves a perfume stain<\/p>\n

for those that supermarket in their wake.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, observed as it happens: that cascade<\/p>\n

of ash blonde which never greys, the fall<\/p>\n

of nail varnish from a brush\u2026how the penny<\/p>\n

finally drops. Then eyebrows rise again,
\nas one, two, three \u2013 shake out that plumage \u2013<\/p>\n

four dolly birds might right now drift into sight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sarah James’s first collection Into the Yell (Circaidy Gregory Press, 2010) won third prize in the International Rubery Book Awards 2011. She is a journalist, mum, MA creative writing student and dabbler in art. Her website is at www.sarah-james.co.uk<\/a> .<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The image created in response to poems by Sam Hutchcocks and Julie Haller (of Moonlit Murals<\/a>)
<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Four calling birds\u2026. [calling birds is a corruption of the original colly or collie birds \u2013 blackbirds]   The Calling   Against winter sun, a Christmas card seen in a moment\u2019s stillness, silhouetting blackbirds in a leafless tree.   Then, the breaking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-twelve-days-of-christmas-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775","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=3775"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23941,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3775\/revisions\/23941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}