In the clearing

The forest was swollen with water. 
Branches stirred swamped bases
And moorhens made homes in brown bramble
Puddles surrounded with mud.
But I didn't expect the sky to fall,
To lie in the clearing
And see clouds drift across the floor -
Suddenly so close me.

C. LJ Ireton 2024

The journeys

Standing still by the glass

I run through a thousand nightmares

And on the floor

I stretch as far as the stars,

then race back down to tell you about them.

I traverse distances that do or don't exist

In a few silent breaths

And some of them are beautiful, 

when I am not scared.  

I journey

Mad or wanted -

By going nowhere. 

C. LJ Ireton 2024

April Showers

Four months in
And more of the same,
Silt white rain runs
Like frustration 
On cheeks.

Sullen at the sky,
I still open the window -
In low whistles and water hit consonants 
The Earth is recounting its day
And wants to know
Who's listening. 

C. LJ Ireton 2024 

The Three of Us

It was two o'clock in the afternoon.
We'd been out in the sun,
but I moved into the room,  
saying nothing.

I lay down and they followed,
flopped on carpets and sheets -
the three of us feline,
asleep in the light
and shadows
of silence. 

C. LJ Ireton 2024

The First Springtime Swim (ii)

It wasn't the equinox, 
the clocks, the dew on the grass
instead of the frost -

But the ache of my arms
in still water, my spirit yawning 

with my bones submerged

And curving -

That woke me, let me feel again,

under the lightening sky. 

C. LJ Ireton 2024

Dark earth

I released twilight wildflower seeds,
tiny, tiny, white,  
speckled
into the blackest brown soil,
damp and winter-devoid of life.

My hands were dark earth
from the stirring as I sat back
on my heels. The seeds were not yet
broken -
And they had become the night sky.

C. LJ Ireton 2024

The Sixth Hour

Have you ever seen night,
Where the Sun should be?
Like the depths were the sky
And the day a spirit fleeing
Beyond reach - 
Leaving only mystery
Shivering in our bones
With the unknowing cold.
There are no stars
That make a beautiful dark -
It is an unnatural pause
That roots our feet in question -
Not just fear
Of the sudden shadows over the hills
And under our skin.
We glance at each other,
Beneath our headscarves -
And we all feel it -
A fall,
Soul-deep sleeping,
A dawn. 

LJ Ireton 2024 

The Silence of the Birds

In the inhale of the earth,
The silence of the birds,
The watching for the white Sun - 
Dry words are breathing.

When the wind has torn the forests,
But the moorhens deem it safe
To walk on dirty water -
Write of their returning.

When the tree arms unbend
And creatures crawl curious,
Unsinging,
There is the poem, 
The tin grey cloud in its palm -
Eyes towards its absence. 

C. LJ Ireton 2024 

To The Sky

As blossom makes beautiful the falling,
So does a poem belong to the sky -

To tell of it, to tell how

You kissed my words with lemon pink roses
Then lifted them to life.

C. LJ Ireton 2024 

Distant Creatures

I run through the mud in a town satin dress,
Pierced now with cat claws and hawthorn,
Cold moor winds.
At the fences I reflect on the unknown ground with the same sound of birds -
I could go to the ends of the earth
And a beautiful familiar
Would still find me there.

I pick up my skirts
To save them from more scratches
And curtsy to the souls
In the grass - 
Distant creatures have kept me close to myself,
A sheep's nose snuffle and look from feline eyes -
Mine, the things I love - 
Always mine. 

C. LJ Ireton 2024

March Champagne

I went out into the misty March sun,

The ground still cold and soil soaked

But the champagne light

Was finally high enough -

A diluted prayer

Of grey gold

Where monochrome thoughts had been,

That my restrained hope,

So often pressed against glass,

Tilted back, 

Ready for the sip.

LJ Ireton 2024 

The Maiden Grass

It is a sharp, silver day -
Made by a wind
Grieving. 
Trees and reeds sway to bend,
Sway to bend
But the goldfinch rubs
His little head
On the spray
Delicate and red
With an unmoveable agenda,
And the maiden grass
Stands back up, her
Feather tips falling
Into the sun's 
Closing prayer.
Even as the cold air stings,
I see softness  
And the pencil grey clouds allow a
Moment for the plumes of straw
To be spun into gold,
Spun into gold. 

LJ Ireton 2024

Not Yet Spring

It is not yet Spring, 

When I can call my curated vines

Of violet and lemon meaning

Out of the ground

From winter's writhing roots;

That press against the edges of my mind 

And curl back around

In want of surety,

Sun-blessings,

The curiosity of others.

It is not yet Spring- 

The unravelling of the tangible

Into Time, 

That doesn't go back again 

Into the dark -

It dances on your lips,

Dips into hedgerows

In pastel colours 

Sense-making, 

Breathing purple.

It is not yet Spring -

When I can watch

What I already know

Like a kite,

Tipping its head 

At its tail,

Streamer roots

Tasting the sky.

Not yet. 

LJ Ireton 2024

 

Birdsong

There is a tint this evening
The robin sings in pink and grey
Even if no-one hears him, 
Like the birdsong gone before, forgotten.
I can dwell on reason so much
That nothing gets written at all, 
But the twilight tonight is lighter - 
A smokey rose 
And my words began on the branches,
Breathed out into the cloud lines
Pink and grey.
Maybe they won't be heard,
But it's about the saying -
Back into the sky
Living, before the night. 

LJ Ireton 2023

When Wintering is Done

It is a surprising morning - 

Like the cold is trying to be kind.

The Sun hits pink on the grass

Sprinkled with ice,

Glittering.

But the yellow-bellied blue bird

Above me is the future Sun -

The creatures all to come out

When wintering is done.

We have other selves, 

Waiting,

To leave the nest of our senses.

Then, instead we will see

Spirits sparkling,

Ours,

On the grass.

LJ Ireton 2024

 

The Winter Water

The winter water
Is glass clear, but tinges the pebbles 
Gold-green while running to the sun 
Further down in the stream -
Away from the ice times,
The heavy feelings
I can feel the relief let loose over the rocks,
Being.

The Moorhen stands a moment -
Bright yellow stalks
Against the bank shades of moss
Holding their own
Under the ribbons of time,
Splaying wet.

I must get up;
Let the stones and dirt swirl by my feet
Around the light, into the light -
Wood walkers will see me with eyes shut -
But, such is the effort to be still
While so much is passing.

LJ Ireton 2024

Something the bird takes

In the space between us
The word 'love' falls like
Cloth from a washing line
In memory dreams -
Undressable with sounds, the way
The Sun speaks no language
But its own.
Somewhere between warming
Wet garments on grass blankets
And burning through the substance
Of this world 
Is this feeling,
Flaring across the lens,
Ruining photographs -
It cannot be captured.
It breathes
Mind to mind -
Something the bird takes from 
The phone wire, the drying twine
And carries to the fire 
Stirring the blood under the skin of the sky
Before the night,
Every night,
Every night. 

LJ Ireton 2023

On Snow and Flame

There are dried flowers in the candle
White; purple stars
With faces pressed to the glass
Looking out at the raining
 
Snowflakes
Faster than my thoughts 
That flurry, only.
 
​I focus on the flame, 
O​r try to -
The contentment of a fallen crystal.
But still
Wishes circle.
 
Melting meets melting.
​Yet what could be 
Won't settle.

LJ Ireton 2024