Patricia Leighton
Roll-over
I
Vapour trails in late January sun
etch winter from the bones
and the blue
that pushes the last traces
of a white mist
over the horizon’s rim
cleanses the brain’s palette
of seasonal dross.
The earth softens
begins to break
II
anticipates
the thrust of tight-wrapped leaves
the cream-green flesh
of sappy stems.
Spring opens
with a wham of colour
a brief carnival
of petals.
On the edge of summer
its flowers are crucified
III
and greens darken
half in shade’s salute
to the strengthening sun
and half to creeping age.
Blooms ease
into slow showiness
share with the intermittent chirrups
of birds the languor of long days.
Gold surreptitiously
ripens summer to rust
IV
and an autumn mixture
of crispness and mush
tang of sharp fruits, thoughts
in decay.
Brisk winds ride hills
and wet woods sink
into the stillness
of graveyards of leaves.
Colours fade
to grey
V
depression of empty days
same rain same gloom same everlasting
grind to sprayed and tinselled holly
eunuched firs;
a fall to post-glitter sloth
and lethargy
until the tongue
gags on the turning year
and there's a sharp intake
of January again.
Page(s) 53-54
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- Chroma
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- Lamport Court
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- Magma
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- Matter
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- Moodswing
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- North, The
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- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
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- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
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- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
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- Shearsman
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- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
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- Yellow Crane, The