folklore (Remove filter)
Citizens
Citizens
The Bakers, the Millers, the watchmakers.
The clerics, the priests and the reeves.
The plougher of fields and the sower of seeds.
The bankers, the scoundrels, the thieves.
The farmers, the tailors, the shopkeepers.
The woman who sits home and weaves.
The godless, the hypocrites and sinners.
The bishop who prays and believes.
The innkeepers, drunks and ...
Tuesday 2nd April 2024 9:37 am
Jeepers creepers
In a shadow,
so softly creeping
I met a maiden
so softly weeping
Her lovers blood
in her clothes, seeping
For, his wandering eyes
she'd took for safe keeping
Wednesday 16th November 2022 5:52 pm
All Fall Down...
Down in the valley
Where wild things grow
There came a mist
Of long ago
Within the haze:
A nursery rhyme
Lullabying
Dark webs of time
Ring o' Rosie
If you please
Come float with us
Upon the breeze
It gets so lonely
Down in the ether
So Mother says
It's time to feed her
Pockets full
Of posies rare
From a time
No lo...
Tuesday 10th May 2022 8:10 pm
Nymph
Within a forest
Within a dream
She danced amongst the evergreens
Until the moonlight
Turned her pale
To become the forest's ghostly tale.
Sunday 10th April 2022 3:05 pm
A Place For Mushrooms
Roses were never within her
For only the cloying fragrance of lilies
emanated from every pore
and ethereal breath
A succulent moss gave comfort
like an earthly blanket
Seducing her cold, dead bones
Pale, decaying flesh turning
fertilizer for sprouting fungi:
such tempting, flavoursome morsels
of a fine meaty bouquet
The swirling breeze whispers:
...
Wednesday 6th October 2021 6:05 pm
Green Man
The Celtic Spring begins today, so Happy Imbolc.
__________________
Green Man
on a ceramic head
by Paula Zimmermann
I know that you must be there,
innocent divine,
although at first I cannot see;
your martyrdom, daily,
amidst brick, steel, and glass
goes almost un-noticed
and has made us blind.
We have all but buried you.
But then I find ...
Monday 1st February 2021 6:13 pm
The Crimson Queen!
(Happy Halloween everyone!)
She rides upon a crimson horse
Its eyes as black as tar
Pray not to hear her whispered name
For she'll come to where you are
Her skin: as white as fresh-laid snow
And twice as cold to touch
Her hair: as black as night itself
Hold your breath now, hush!
For if you hear the galloping hooves
Coming to your door
Run with all ...
Friday 30th October 2020 7:04 pm
Damnation Trail
Damnation Trail
Through forests dark and shadowed vale
He follows the damnation trail
Along the river’s twisted course
Through bracken thick and clutching gorse
The ancient path cut through the land
He walks with devil’s hand in hand
And where his steps flatten the crops
No more will grow the wheat and hops
For he has footsteps cast in death
He steals the fa...
Wednesday 28th October 2020 12:25 pm
Corruption
Corruption
Here in the verdant meadows
All on a summer’s day
The dreaded army of the dark
Met with the noble fey
They fought until the long sundown
And the lost blood of the dead
Soaked into the sacred ground
And turned the roses red
When the fight was over
And the legion of the flies
Had swarmed across the corpses
Stealing hope from sightless eyes
...
Thursday 22nd October 2020 11:05 am
Prophecy
Prophecy
The crows tell of the walking man
Who travels fields by day and night
The walking man who’s not a man
Who strides between the dark and light
Soulless, cursed to stumble through
The endless hedgerows of the land
He wished for life but walks in death
He is the sweet prince of the damned
The hares and rabbits run from him
The fox and wolf walk by ...
Thursday 15th October 2020 5:39 pm
The Pumpkin Queen
The Pumpkin Queen
The pumpkin queen is orange
Like the colour of her fruits
She wears a giant apron
And polished hob-nailed boots
She has a heart as big as Oceans
And helps others when it suits
The pumpkin queen is deeper than
An oak tree’s ancient roots
She sits in regal glory
On a throne of wood and leaves
And will animate her chosen one
As long as i...
Thursday 1st October 2020 12:38 am
DR reading "Epona" on Linda Thomas's Book Show - Radio Scilly 17 June 2019
This is my own edit of an appearance I made on Radio Scilly last month. I've been a frequent visitor to the islands for twenty-five years, and they feature a lot in my work.
Linda Thomas is Scilly's estimable librarian, and it's great to be able to give her this shout-out as she's been a real champion of my work for several years now. The show itself was a blast (although you may not get that f...
Monday 22nd July 2019 11:51 am
Nature Freely Gives
Jack In The Green awakens from his slumber
Spring is upon us, nature in all her wonder
Gaze in awe of rebirth, renewal, fertility
Stood deep in the forest, deep within tranquillity
Robin Goodfellow his mischief to perform
Souring milk, trampling crop circles from fields of corn
Tripping those who into the green wood unwary tread
Laughing, yet another traveller away from p...
Sunday 14th July 2019 7:47 am
Llyfnant
Under the yellow-green of sunlit beech
between banks of bluebells' hazy blue
where supple crosiers of new fern reach
over verdant moss still damp with dew
a grassy lane runs beside the river
In the mystic quiet of a leafy dome
of grey bark ash, beech and mighty oak
a far cuckoo calls the dryads home
but we pass unseen by woodland folk
'til tylwyth teg w...
Monday 4th June 2018 9:31 am
Dha Kro’z Ov Al-bi-an
Dha Kro’z Ov Al-bi-an
(Tak’n frum ‘Dha Book Ov Kro’z’)
Koww Koww Koww
Wit wich hurd mi ple -
Kum down in hur
sno dres fin’ery.
Koww Koww Koww
“Giv mi vois”, sez I,
“For Kro iz sik ov
ra’ging at gray ski”
Koww Koww Koww
“I wish mi song be hurd,
tune’ful as a
prit’i lit’l burd”
“No, No”, sa she
“Nev’ar such a thing -
for u ar blak ov hart -
as blak of wing”
“I se u on ...
Friday 29th May 2015 6:31 pm
Nocnitsa
Nocnitsa
the woods are dark and tangled
and the moonlight jangles white
along a twisted stony path
that leads away into the nowhere
a howling fills the stillness
overflowing like a scrabble
of beetles on porcelain tiles
in the shadows sits a something
with its head a leather pumpkin
oozing cherry-soda pus
and mewling for its mother
who is stalking just behind you
as you stumble thro...
Monday 9th March 2015 7:31 pm
Hobby Horses Will Dance
My new collection of poetry, Hobby Horses Will Dance, is available from book shops £5. A collection based on folklore and nature.ISBN 978-0-9929685-1-9
Old Ninth
Blod monath arrived
shrouded in mist and
winter chill.
Soon the firewood
would be stacked
and the cattle
slaughtered.
And when All Saints
and All Souls had passed,
Mischief Night gone
and even befo...
Friday 28th November 2014 9:35 pm
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