Happy #NationalPoetryDay! 28th September is national poetry day, a celebration of a rich culture of language, imagery and expression. I find that autumn is a season steeped in poetic inspiration.
In the spirit of ‘here’s one I made earlier’, I thought today would be the perfect occasion to share this poem I wrote inspired by place, memory, dialect, folklore, and of course, the autumn winds.
Widdershins
(Chanctonbury Ring)
Do you remember that wild Autumn day, when you and I, brave and spry, climbed the Down and went widdershins about the ring, around and around against the sun, with a skip and a dance and a joyful run? Oh how we laughed when we got to the end and I’d only got seven times when you’d counted ten, and we decided to do it all again.
Do you remember how I shivered and declared I could hear, the whispered songs of the pharisees? But you insisted it was nought but wind in leaves and the seasonal rattle of beech mast husk as our shadows set off running into the purple dusk.
Listen to a reading of this poem on my Youtube channel:
Sussex Field Notes 