….What distinguishes a poem from a shopping list? What elevates words from their ordinary use and casts them under the spell of the poem?…

COVID 19’s rampage across the world has made us all reassess what is important. I’ve missed people, most of all. The bodily knowledge of another’s proximity, the sensation of being amongst many. This is currently manifesting in a deep comfort when around groups of people as I pass through my little town, or sit in a coffee shop with a friend….

We had a funny summer here in the UK. The English hunger for weather-related moaning was well and truly satisfied during months that saw grey skies bursting with occasional, blistering days of sunshine. Despite considering autumn The Best Season of the Year, I had resisted the knowledge of its incoming - surely we deserved more sun than we had had this 2021?! Nevertheless, my desperate delusions of a longer summer were blown away by Autumnal charm: the stingingly fresh early morning mists that beckon in warm days; cosy jumpers worn with scarves, but no coats (yet); the darkening of the evenings and the smell of woodsmoke from the season’s first fires.