A few weeks ago – in the early days of lockdown – I recieved a lovely thing through the post; a copy of this;

I met Vicky through poetry, during the gathering of poems for a poetry anthology I was working on for Proost (this one in fact). We discovered mutual interests and mutual friends and it has been lovely to watch her and Brian’s adventures develop over on the other side of Scotland.

Meanwhile, Vicky continues writing. This book is a collection of 15 lovely poems, circling around moments – transcendent moments, awakenings, encounters with nature that allow us to glimpse beyond back around into ourselves.

I need the night

blessing and balm

of the softening sky

as the day folds its hands, finished

You can order a copy of the book from the publisher (www.hedgehogpress.co.uk), from Amazon, or for an even more special treat, you can get a beautifully annotated copy direct from Vicky, who is also a talented artist. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-sBOWPjzFk/

One more lovely sentence;

I expected silence

to be peace

some sort of hard-earned joy

.

But instead I wept

as silence offered me

my own star-shrouded heart