healingwords: poetry for the soul

The swallow population is at its peak now with the fledglings all now gaining strength and joining their flock. At dusk and zone our house seems to be at the centre of a vortex of birds as they fly over the roof, skimming the terrace, whizzing past the front windows. There is a flock of maybe 50 or more birds and they swoop in formations of up to 10, missing windows and walls by mere inches. It is an incredible sight with the added benefit of clearing up the mosquitos before they bite! I have spent hours trying to capture them in a photograph, arms up until it makes me dizzy but the birds are too fast. I am left with a trace of their amazing flight as I gasp at the speed and agility. 

Whilst wildlife has been pictured reclaiming city streets, I have also read that birds such as pigeons who are used to foraging food from dropped waste  have been struggling during the lockdown. This bird was photographed in a city park near Barcelona which has been shut to people for 7 weeks. Now we are allowed to walk outside again I imagine it will not be long before city birds once more have a ready supply of food from the streets. 

I am flying away from life today, over the hills, over lakes and valleys, silvered by light. 

I have never been able to photograph a swallow in flight, despite trying for hours as they swoop over my roof terrace or through the narrow village streets. My brother Chris Knight took this image when he stayed in the village and the birds kept him awake from dawn each morning, flocking in the plaza from their mud spit nests under house eaves. This morning they were back again, high in the sky, chasing insects, greeting the day.  © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

The moon woke me this morning as it shone in my bedroom window. Looking over the roof terrace towards the mountains I watched it track over the mountain, before slipping over the horizon as dawn broke spreading light from the rising sun. My eye was caught by a sudden dart of black across the terrace. Another one became clearer, at first I thought it was a bat but the movement was swifter. As night turned into day I watched the familiar flocks of wood pigeons as they flew from the hills to the village. Then I saw them, swooping over the roof tops, darting in front of my window, flashing up into the sky. The swallows had returned. There must always be a day when the migrating birds arrive from their winter in Africa but this year I was awake and able to spot their first morning. In these difficult times when looking ahead seems impossible the return of the swallows brings me much needed hope.    © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

I took this photograph in February at the Marjal near Pego. The rice paddies were flooded and birds dotted the waters in a feeding frenzy. I imagine the rice growing will go ahead as it as an essential food resource however the walkers, dog walkers, bird watchers and nature lovers will not be there to see  the weekly change in the habitat as the wild flowers cover the canal banks and the rice plants start to green the paddies.                                                      © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

This fragile, empty bird shell struck me as both an example of strength and continuity. Whole, it nurtured life as the bird grew and left its shell. Then it became a source of nutrients for scavenging ants feeding off the remains. As we worry about our own fragility nature reminds us life survives and continues, new life born from the most delicate of habitats.  © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

As my mind is on the arrival of two grandchildren I am reminded of my own childrens' childhoods. They always loved watching the ducks, at ponds in parks, on the river or in the garden of our neighbour in the village. It won't be long before my daughters will be walking their own children around the park to see the ducks.   © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

I love watching the birds at the Marjal marshes near Pego. The rice paddies and the rivers and canals that feed them are home to many water birds, including egrets, herons and more recently ibis. I rarely catch the herons and egrets feeding, more often than not they are standing still, perched on one leg, like statues in the marsh, flapping into the sky when disturbed. Today they were wading the flooded fields, pecking in the mud with spiked beaks.  © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

As I am stuck indoors with January breathing problems I am using a beautiful photograph taken by my brother Chris Knight. It brings back happy memories of watching the blackbirds in my family garden. In their later years of immobility my parents spent many hours in their sunny garden room, watching the birds. We had families of blackbirds all year round, defending their territory, raising young and filling the air with their song.   © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

As we approached the rice paddies in the Marjal near Pego I spotted what looked like a black patch of crows feeding on the stubble. We got out of the car and as we moved nearer the patch rose as one into the air, circling above us. My brother Chris Knight took this photograph and we later identified the birds as glossy Ibis. We watched them fly for some time before they settled on a distant patch of stubble rice. It was an unexpected but thrilling experience.  © 2020 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

The seagulls lined up on the crest of the pebble beach, so still is was hard to spot them against the grey white spectrum of the stones. As one the flock rose into the sky, their clapping wings flashing.  © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

The sun is shining today but I feel like the clouds are gathering. What better than this lovely photograph by my brother Chris Knight to take me back to our family garden, where any ills would be eased by a little pocket of urban nature.  © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

La Marjal in Pego is an area of wetlands with a nature reserve and rice paddies where the famous 'bomba' rice is grown. This rice is the staple for Valencian paella, a short grain rice perfect for the paella pan. Yesterday I was struck by the vibrancy of the green, stretching for miles to the sea. Swallows swooped over the rice paddies, ducks paddled in the canals and statue still heron flew up into the sky with a crack of their wings.                                                                                               © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

This is a list poem prompted by the online course  ' The Wild Within' tutored by Wendy Pratt. Her courses are inspiring, if anyone is interested in writing or improving their poetry have a look at her website. https://wendyprattpoetry.wordpress.com/ Robins have always attracted me, they are such convivial, cheeky garden birds but this poem has a touch of melancholy as it is hard to picture a robin without remembering my dad in his garden. It has been two years now since I walked away.  Thanks to my brother Chris Knight for the photograph.  THE KEEPER Robin flies to his side, bone pain burns as creaking legs wobble up the cobbled path. A hop ahead rosy breast, grandad friending, tail wagging, earth skipping, scarlet waistcoat spade sitting, garden guarding, patch defending, cherry chest, fluff feathered, worm pulling, eye cocking, blackbird mocking, berry cheeked, pointy beaked, song trilling, cat teasing, ...

This poem is inspired by the photograph of a blue tit taken by my brother Chris Knight. His bird and squirrel photos take me straight back to the garden of our old family home where our parents spent over 50 years nurturing and enjoying the garden before we watched it grow wild as illness reduced their mobility. In his final years we would sit for hours with Dad in the glass walled garden room, open to the outside on a warm day, watching the birds together. THE NEST BOX Sawdust sprinkled the scratchy grass like  stale breadcrumbs scattered on the bird table. I skipped around him as he nailed and hinged, the bird box fixed to red brick where blue tits reared teeming broods of chicks, fledglings safe  from prowling cats hunting nests in beech hedges.  Hidden behind slanted greenhouse glass,  the nest box outlived him, hanging forgotten  as honey pine mossed to green, twig ringlet tendrils sprouting from rain blackened cracks. Hungry...

I have been writing Haiku whilst in hospital, taking my mind back to nature. Here are a selection of both Spanish and English nature haiku.  rest by sacred Oak soul eased by tree energy at home in green woods velvet night, silence cloaks village, jabali roam, root buried almonds eagle loops earthward casts wingspan on roof terrace soars to dot in sky stalking hunter pads blood oozes on virgin snow cat licks crimson paw in stillness spot red robins hop, blue tits hover, coal blackbirds squabble golondrinas swoop in mudspit caves under eaves, hungry heads peak out garden birds flutter to hedgerows, wiry squirrel, brush curled, raids the nuts creep along marsh dyke snow feathered egrets arise cloud fans aqua sky marsh egret escapes black reed sticks hop the shore line saffron feet dance the waves salt flats shimmer pink flamingos strut, loop bowed necks jet dipped bills sift shrimp ...

As I am still stuck inside a hospital room I am reposting a poem that takes my mind away,  written for those of us who search for peace of mind in the midst of the storm. With love and gratitude to my dear friends. BECALMED In the eye of the storm, wearied by frenzied winds, tossed into quiet calm, momentary peace descends. Heavy lids close as head dips, hands unclench, fingers release, weight sinks into soft welcome, breath slows as soul is freed. Flying high over mountains, skimming spiked pine tops, swoop low over olive groves, gnarled gnomes trimmed with silver. Carried on citric valley breeze, funneled floating between sleeping giants, guarding passage to bay curved in sand smile. Catch a rising warmth, sky flyer soaring, dazzled by healing light, sun mirrored on gilded sea. In flight find freedom, sea charge, strength renewed, mind calmed in balance, as voice carries and spirit flows. ...

Today I walked in the Marjal de Pego, a natural park of wetlands adjoining rice paddies. After days of rain the area was flooded with overflowing ditches and puddled 'caminos'. The marsh is a safe home for water birds but I was surprised to see higher banks turned over by wild boar, the muddied grass churned up and pocked with hoof prints.  LA MARJAL DE PEGO Marsh waters ripple as cool breath sways gangly reeds, freeing puffs of downy fluff from sepia pokers. Egrets wade on straw stilts, snow plumed flock rise in fluttering fan when footsteps near. Dragonflies flash turquoise in jewelled courtship whilst heron scans, poised in marble elegance. Glass marsh mirrors moody sky, pierced by low sun as clouds drift through blue to dove grey. Breeze sighs over fish bubbles, whisper adorned with bird trill, fierce wings flap as heron flies.   © 2018 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.   ...