POETRY
Here is a small selection of my poetry from various sources. I will be changing the poems that appear here, so do come back again for more.
TENDING TO THE FALLEN
A dead badger lies in the wood.
I have pink tulip petals in my pocket - another story -
And I carefully place them at her nape.
Not to make her more beautiful,
Because she could not be
More beautiful than she is now,
In the soft tufting of her fur,
The shy half-stretch of her paw,
The nick of blood on her nose;
But because she may like
An unexpected brightness to mark her passage;
Because she may like
To try them out as wings;
Because she may like to know
That my heart paused
To soar with her.
From King of the Wood
A POCKETFUL OF TIN WHISTLES
Tin whistles are made of various materials, but none of them pure tin.
The nickel tin whistle is all sea air:
Shrill as the wind over Liscannor cliffs,
Keening its way across Burren granite
Until its breath expires at Dromore Woods.
The wooden tin whistle is all damp air:
Seeping into stone walls and mattresses,
While mildewed paper peels in farmhouses
And peat smoke wheezes from cottage chimneys.
The plastic tin whistle is all hot air:
Coughing like a last ditch drinking partner
Who will spin a fine yarn through rasps and gasps;
Pressing dry cracked lips to the Blarney Stone.
But the true tin whistle is all thin air:
Trilling down the road with a hop and skip;
Last seen crossing over Knocknashee and
Disappearing into the morning mist.
From 10 Musical Instruments in 10 Syllables
STORM-FELLED BEECHES
I listen to the storm-felled beeches
Singing themselves back into the land;
Each crack, creak and rustle
a descent down the scale
To sink into perfect cadence
With the eternal.
From King of the Wood
KING OF THE WOOD
POETRY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAULA TAIT
King’s Wood is an ancient Chilterns beech woodland on the edge of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.
In March 2020, I began to visit the wood to sit, listen, dream and write. My travels through the inner way stations of the wood, at a time of lockdown and long COVID, was to result in this chapbook of poetry and photography.
Contains 13 poems and 7 photographs.
King of the Wood is available in two formats:
- A5 Gloss Chapbook (£5 + P&P) available from this website
- Ebook (£1.49) available from Amazon
Published April 2022.
READ KING OF THE WOOD
King of the Wood is available in two formats:
- A5 Gloss Chapbook (£5 + P&P) available from this website
- Ebook (£1.49) available from Amazon