THE TOOTH! THE TOOTH!

To my certain knowledge,
I have never done anything
To that tooth.

Never bitten straight down
Onto a walnut shell,
Never forgotten to clean
The wretched thing,
Brushing on brand new toothpaste
To keep it clean and shining.
And this is the thanks I get.

A devil with a pitchfork
Prodding its pulsing perfection
Into flame and furnace.
Laughing when streaks of pain,
Volumes of agony,
Pour into this demented molar.

‘Bit sore, eh?’ smiles the Dentist,
Holding over me the longest needle
The world has ever seen.
‘A sharp sting,’’ he grins and plunges
This vicious implement straight in.

Which is when the Road Mender appears.
DuhDuhDuhDuhDuh, he drills,
And my whole body freezes,
Until I hardly dare move for fear
My face will fall to pieces

‘All done!’cries the cheerful torturer.
The pain has gone and I’m up
And out of that chair in a flurry.
In case he finds something else to do.

But I’ll tell you one thing,
I won’t forgive that tooth in a hurry.

                             ©2024 Gwen Grant.

There were two of them, taking turns going up the tree and drumming their
beaks on the bark. We were attracted by the movement at the bottom of the
garden and when we saw the Woodpeckers, it was like winning the Lottery! Such
beauty and such perfection was a gift we won’t forget. They came for a couple of
weeks and we watched and waited for them but then a couple of days they didn’t
come and we knew these magical visitations were over. We very much hope they 
will come back.

I was always used to being surrounded by birds, all kinds of birds, and took them
for granted. But as the years moved on and I saw our bunch of sparrows in the
garden thin out and as visits by other birds grew less and worries over the welfare
of all birds everywhere, grew, it became clear there was a lot wrong for them. There
are efforts being made to help all birds now and we can only hope they are effective
and that our fields and gardens, woods and hedgerows and the world
itself is once again flooded with these beautiful visitors.

                 WOODPECKERS

The woodpeckers were a surprise,
A bonus.
As if nature’s good will
Had finally caught up
With us.
A small beauty
Filling the world.

            ©2024 Gwen Grant

LATE EVENING

Fog over cold fields,
Grey ghosts in tall trees,
Mist shadows flouncing
Into blurred and starry air,
Making shapes like ghosts
Slowly falling.
All silent and quietly beautiful.

Until bus headlights
Disturb this late evening,
Catching the cat jumping
The frost rimed fence,
Its sharp little teeth
Tearing the fog into tiny bits,
Eating even tinier pieces.

Next door’s dog kicking up a fuss.
Barking, yelping, growling.
Threatened by what it couldn’t see.
Just like us.

But that’s the ghosts gone,
For sure.
Until they come back later
To haunt us.

                                ©2024 Gwen Grant

 

There’s been a little bit of flooding further down our road, water spilling
through the hedgerow and onto the grass.  Now it’s frozen solid, little
banners of ice catching  the sun and looking beautiful.  All the same,
I’ll be glad when Spring  and the warmer weather comes!

SPRING PROMISE

Ice on the fields,
Snow falling on bare hedgerows.
Tiny hidden primroses
Waiting to push through frozen ground.

Snowdrops already flowering
This bitter morning.
Reminding Spring is only
A breath away.

Full of light and colour.
Full of sunshine.

                                ©2024 Gwen Grant

PRIVATE KEEP OUT!  by Gwen Grant
published by Penguin Vintage  Children’s Classics
available in paperback and as an ebook

Even as a girl, I worried about the three Kings and their camels getting
back home safely.  Christmas goes by so quickly, we find those in this part
of the Nativity story soon leaving us so, at some point, I accepted that the world is their
home and  therefore they are constantly travelling – constantly making it all come true..

STILL TRAVELLING

We think now of those three Kings,
Long since gone, bones dissolved
Into the tight care of history.
Making the world creak in their slow haste
To follow that great star
Blazing into eternity.
Bright, fierce and incomparable.

As their leaving tapped
Through the long deserts of time,
Never stopping until Bethlehem,
Birmingham or any bus shelter
Or rackety garden shed,
Where quiet love and courage
Made them hesitate.
Hold them still.

Travelling along the tops of hedgerows,
The camels great feet crushing snow
Down through solid cold branches,
Plodding into the big field
Alongside the frozen river.
Breaking the ice,
Drinking frozen water.

Camels and Kings being out there.
Kings and camels still travelling.

                                            ©2024 Gwen Grant