Green Time. A poem by Annette Skade

the day is shared into ways
I sit primed the way a cat does
still
face up to sunshine
start to the clap of wood pigeon and crow
reach for leaf and twig
heart imped by a sparrow’s wing
how long does it take to seek out the nooks
of your own garden
to rest on dandelion and daisy
join the dots of mountain-ash petals?
horsetail thoughts
curdle to mackerel sky
re-form before the last takes shape
−the way a bird pipes dactyls
squeaks a persistent spondee
the way they live green time−
the longing of wild garlic
waning of daffodil stalks knotted
to feed the bulb after bloom
my only appointment nightfall

……………..

Annette Skade is from Manchester and has lived on the Beara peninsula for many years. She is currently completing a PhD on the poetry of Anne Carson at Dublin City University. Her poetry collection Thimblerig was published in 2013. She is published in Ireland, the U.K. the U.S. and Australia and has won and been placed in several international poetry competitions. http://annetteskade.com/publications/