WRITING INSPIRED BY LANDSCAPE

  My head is filled with the deafening roar of shingle being dragged back’n’forth, helpless and willing, in the raging surf slapping and sliding towards my feet. And as the pull of the deep contracts, I could sink into the glistening and dazzling sparkles of the thousand shiny black and opal agates.  But while I’m transfixed on the rolling and crashing, Buster has locked his eyes onto something moving, a dark shadow lurching through the waves, breaking the surface of the water only some thirty feet away. Smooth and proud and powerful.  It disappears and we are left searching the white, greens and turquoise blues of the waves. Buster is barking, noiseless in an even louder chorus of chattering shingle, his eyes have seen it before mine. And there it is. A sheen of grey flashes in the sunlight and then a playful flip of a darker tell-tale tail. A humpback whale. He’s inviting us, teasing us and we are such easy prey. I follow Buster and break into a run along the water’s edge. Buster is

    Stools and rooms The internet miracle of Sitting and talking In remote rooms across zoom Is nothing To the ancient rejuvenating funghi net Which vitally feeds, protects And connects the giant and the microscopic. Preceding human cleverness and showing us up. Big time. Sarah Tickle

  Whisper, shimmer, whisker-like on the breath of the wind; shape shifter; preening beak, wing or feather. Hipperty hop, bibberty bop, pippety pip, what staccato breaks this fluidity, me, me me…pippet! Rhythm restored, pulsing heart, pumping life, ebb and flow, underworld, outer world, in the world, of the world.   Squid propelled, to or from, enters my sight. I follow, fins and flipper footed, accepting your invitation into the depths, to dwell a while in your watery world.   Rising to the surface for air, the pitter patter, pitter, patter of water on water, rain drops of heaven joins oceanic expanse   Snail takes cover, withdraws, retreats, hides   Yet the fern, the flower, the tendril, the thirsty stem, soaks up, drinks down, absorbs your nourishing quench…unfurls, blooming, rises to light, aligns with life, is life… Bats, elastic shudder in flight, overhead, on the night shift Moon, star, sun, you rise you fall, things come, things go, time and tide, time and ti

  God peered over their glasses. ‘Can I have a word please?’ Francis had known there would be repercussions. He swallowed the rising feeling of trepidation. But hadn't God delegated his authority – left the entire matter in Francis hands? It was all very well observing things from afar in Paradise. It was also all very well having 800 years of experience and the title of Patron Saint of Ecology and Animals but that didn't prepare anyone for a visit to Earth.   Glasgow 2021 to be precise.   Taking on the climate crisis that could end the world   - with a bunch of overworked, tired world leaders reeling from the shock of COVID, hosted in the country that voted for BREXIT to boot ( although Scots might disagree). God just hadn't realised the enormity of the task they'd assigned to him. Francis tightened the rope around his waist and hitched up his habit - mentally preparing himself   for God 's disappointment and the inevitable dressing down. He silently l

Shaggy ink cap, trumpet chanterelle, slippery jack and bay bollette   With your gilled petticoats, speckled domes, woody parasols and velvet jackets   You invite me to enter your webbed world of connected wonder   Like Alice, I stand on the edge of the unknown, the ‘to be discovered’ Who am I, who are you, what do I know and what, my new found fungi friends, what teachings do you hold?   ‘One side will make you grow taller, the other side will make you grow shorter’, said Caterpillar   As I enter on, venture on my woodland walk…   Helen Dye Image by Jesse Dodds on Unsplash

  Rain splatters on barren morning-chilled hillside, washing the bodies of spent fireflies down gullies towards the sea, where, joyously barking, Apollo, released from the taverna, snuffles and digs in the sand.   Doves leave cotes, landing in pine trees to snake their heads with pleasure, and watch, as the dog runs into the shallows, creating ripples that spread into the bay and lap against the rocks, who play hide and seek with the dancing waves.   Below, sea anemones cling, waving and tasting the water for food, in the eddies stirred by the sand eels, who retreat into burrows as a squid pulses through the water, towards the dolphins playing at the edge of the bay.   I stand silently on a wind-stirred headland, where the four o'clock flowers bloom, knowing that tonight, once again, the fireflies will dance in the dark. Poem by Jaqui Fairfax Image by SacreBleu on Unsplash

  Article from The Patron Saint Herald – 14 th October 2021   Crisis Talks at Earth Division of Patron Saints by Francis de Sales Photograph: Veronica   Today a crucial meeting was held above Rome to discuss the looming threat of a global environmental catastrophe on Earth, which could lead to the closure of the Earth Division of the Patron Saints Organisation.   Raphael the Archangel chaired the meeting to appoint the patron saint responsible for COP Summits.   The successful candidate will intercede with God on behalf of the COP Summit attendees. It is thought by many that whoever wins this prestigious post will be in a solid position to become Head of the Division, assuming they are successful in securing agreements with God that do save the planet.  Following the initial ballots, four very different patron saints made it through to the shortlist. Tipped as the favourites are Frances of Assisi and Kateri Tekakwitha who both hold ecological and environmental office