Five Poems
trampled, rain-sodden the leaves
brown, green, yellow and
a crimson gilded
wings flapping to the wind
above the trees
the joy of the storm pigeon
juicy and sharp
the first few blackberries
summer’s sweetness yet to come
bounteous blackberries along the brook
warm and sweet they meet my lips
purple stained, thorn pierced
still my hands reach out for more
juice-swollen berries
Oliver Tickell is a writer, journalist, poet, and former editor of The Ecologist, living near the river Thames in Oxford