Hugging trees

Watercolour by Natasha Lee, please see links at end of blog.

I wrote this poem years ago, it's in my first published collection, The Spaces in Between (2015). I was prompted to dig it out when my artist friend Natasha Lee posted this picture of hers on her Facebook page today. Good to link the poem and the picture on here, especially when it seems so appropriate to the time.

Hugging trees

I have hugged more trees than blokes in recent years,

their bark is rough, but they don’t bite;

and they don’t run away when you show your tears.

I have hugged more trees than blokes in recent seasons,

they have plenty of foliage, but they don’t leave;

and you can do as you please, they don’t ask for reasons.

I have hugged more trees than blokes in recent weeks,

they can be spikey but they don’t get under your skin;

and they don’t watch football and behave like geeks.                            

I have hugged more trees than blokes in recent days,

they are very hard, but they are friendly and kind;

and they don’t mess with your mind in complex ways.

I have hugged more trees than blokes in recent hours,

they feel rather stout, but they don’t have paunches;

and they don’t try to tell you that you have no powers.

I have hugged more trees than blokes in recent times,

they smell a bit mossy, but they don’t have odours;

and they don’t mess about with your poems and rhymes.

I may hug more blokes than trees in future ages;

they don’t have branches, but they have nice arms;

and they taste much better than old greengages.

'Hugging Trees' appears in The Spaces in Between (Pinewood Press, 2015). Copies are available direct from the author.

 

Natasha Lee Designs is here: www.natashaleeillustration.co.uk 

Facebook and Instagram :  @NatashaLeeDesigns 

email : natashaleedesigns@gmail.com

Time of the snow

This is the first poem in my new collection, The Spaces in Between,
published in September 2015, by Pinewood Press. Details of how to buy the book are below.

Time of the snow

She wanted to remember what time it was.

She knew, in years to come,

she would want to know

the exact moment,

so she could recall it all.

All the detail.

She would want to count it.

Minute by minute.

So she looked at the clock

and watched the snow falling outside,

deepening the coldness,

filling the world

layer on layer

minute on minute

hour on hour.

She watched the minutes pile up

while inside, time was still.

She knew the moment he went,

she felt the press of his hand on hers,

she looked at the snow,

she forgot the clock,

time froze

The Spaces in Between, published by Pinewood Press, Swansea, £8, is available from: 

local bookshops in the Cardigan area,

direct from me by mail order: email -- spreadthewords@mybtinternet.com

or on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spaces-Between-Jackie-Biggs/dp/0955880076/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442646572&sr=1-1&keywords=the+spaces+in+between+jackie+biggs

The Book Launch

It has been three years and three months since I left my full time job as a journalist. I wanted to see what would happen if I made the time and space in my life to write more creatively. This is what happened, this book!

My debut collection, 'The Spaces in Between' will be launched on Wednesday, September 9th, at 7.30pm at The Cellar Bar, Cardigan, which is where it all started really.

Here's a bit of the text from the back cover:

"Love, relationships, death and loss, and the fiercely political are all here in The Spaces in Between, the debut poetry collection from Jackie Biggs. Her work draws on ideas of memory, reflection and the human emotions that colour our daily lives and she brings nature and landscape to life in her poetry."

And here's a link to a podcast of me talking with Martin Locock of Spoken Word Wales about poetry, this collection, writing haiku, PENfro Book Festival (which I am chairing this year) and spoken word events around west Wales:

http://www.podcastgarden.com/episode/sww04-jackie-biggs_54202

'The Spaces in Between' is published by Pinewood Press, Swansea, costs £8 (+£2 p&p by post). To order please email me at: jackienews@hotmail.co.uk