At last the woods are full of life again –
creepy-crawly things, other delights
on the wing. A regular beat: no rain
or flood, burning sun or sombre Arctic
mood will mean the failure of a brood –
no threat of a permanent silence, all is
improved, more resilient, you can set
your time by swallows coming and
going, a cuckoo’s call.
Sad perhaps to think of what was lost
but now and then, no harm in overhaul.
Artificial? Let us say rather: ‘artifice’.
Today, nothing needs to feel the cold,
thrushes sing in the astro-snow, a newly
sprung robin finds its perch with a steely
‘ping’, sings its hopes, this joyful world
embracing. A flash of jay! All of nature
present, everything moving to and fro –
until, in the far-off future, systems slow…
long-life batteries will need replacing.
© Pete Mullineaux
Picture 11104773, © Mark Stevenson / Stocktrek / Mary Evans
Pete Mullineaux lives in Galway, Ireland where he teaches global issues in schools through poetry and drama. He’s published four poetry collections, most recently How to Bake a Planet (Salmon, 2016), “a gem” (Poetry Ireland Review). A New & Selected will be published in 2021. He’s also written three teaching resources including Just a Second: Exploring Global Issues through Drama & Theatre (Afri, 2016), and Interdependence Day: Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals through Drama is due from Afri in 2020. Three radio plays have been produced on Irish radio (RTE) including the sci-fi themed Butterfly Wings starring Owen Roe and Karen Ardiff. His work has been featured and discussed on RTE’S Arena, Ireland’s leading arts/culture programme. His debut novel Jules & Rom: Sci-fi meets Shakespeare, featuring an android Romeo, has just been released as an e-book by Troubador Publishing (2020).
Choose PDF type:
