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You are here: Home / Blog / More Poems from the Labyrinth
an orb spider web, metaphor for poems from the labyrinth

More Poems from the Labyrinth

10th August 2017 By Nicky Stainton

Following Beth Soule’s very successful Labyrinth writing workshop in July, participants share three more of their poems created on, or inspired by, the day.  Beth’s preparation for workshops and provision of supportive material is always appreciated and stimulates a surprising amount of work in a short day.

Join her in Pakefield on 6th September to learn about the crow family in myth and life, explore the crow themed exhibition at the Ferini Art Gallery, and write crow inspired poetry (still a few places left). And don’t forget we are leaving the crow writing competition open so you just have time to submit an entry after joining Beth’s workshop (but entry to the competition isn’t conditional on attending the workshop or the exhibition).

See our Events pages for more on the workshop, art exhibition and competition.

Labyrinth Poems

 If only I could bottle 

 the sun warming my legs,

wind whispering in my ear,

the scent of cut grass.

 

A solitary shining face

looks up from the meadow,

brimful of gold.

 

Will it still show I love butter

if I place it under my chin?

 

We made daisy chains

threading pink and white heads

through slits in the stalks,

 

picked dandelion clocks,

fairy fluff

to blow in the breeze.

 

How many puffs would it take

to measure the years?

 

We hunted for charms,

the four leaf luck

of red and white clover,

 

whistled through grass

pressed tight between

willing thumbs.

 

If I close my eyes

I am transported back –

the powerful pull of place.

© Sue Wallace-Shaddad 2017

 

 Walking with the Hare:  The Walk

Come walk with me, my muse.

Sacred one at the dawn of Alban Eiler,

the goddess, Eostre, loves you.

At dusk on Alban Eluad

you are the last sheaf of corn.

I need your lightness.

Your discernment:  Your passion

leads to the magic of love, and I am lost.

Knowing how fragile and easily broken

my heart is, please walk with me.

Let’s leave the daisies and the hedgerow,

leave the field, the dolmen,

the lapwing’s nest, with eggs,

and the parsley and clover.

Caper and box with me, dear Corn spirit

of the two equinoxes, do not sit

in your Hare’s parliament circle,

travel with me, under glimmering moon.

Show me the way.

Forwards.  Dance.

The shell in my hand

supports my thumb.

I will not use it for rebuke,

to insult, nor for harm,

it is still. Quiet. Firm.

My memory of your wisdom is this shell.

Come walk beside me, please

don’t run so fast, keen-eyed friend

alert to nature’s callings,

the quiver of ears and twitch of nose

mirror my nervousness.

Run as from the folds of Boudicca’s dress,

show me Adraste’s victory.

Do I go on or do I let go?

You leap ahead. We twirl,

and dance together.

This journey is fun with you.

© Sue Benbow 2017

 

 Ariadne’s Thread

A thread,

I spun a thread for you

and as you plunged into the dark

I looped it round my heart

tethering you

to the light.

 

I felt each twitch and tug

as you trod deeper

into the labyrinth.

Each twist and tug

tore a little

from somewhere deep in me

 

but even worse were my imaginings

when, for a time, the thread went slack.

Were you lost?

Had I lost you?

What struggles were unfolding

far from the light,

what battles fought,

what wounding?

 

And then the steady, rhythmic

twist and tug

as you rewound the skein,

came back to me.

I thought that was the end

the happy end

 

but somewhere since

the thread between us has

unravelled,

you let it drop

and now I drift

untethered.

© Beth Soule 2017

 

Filed Under: Blog

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