In May 

You are everywhere.
Arthur Bells’ yellow bloom
fragrant and fleeting,
whitethorn buds abound.  

Mint makes it’s way to our door,
ready for picking. 
Swallows sing a sweet song
as they soar.

On my route
I detour,
lured by a lilac in bloom.
This month, of the mothers. 
                                                                                       
                          
Our Village in the Fifties

Vibrant.
Most houses endowed  
with broods of children.
We run around freely
unhindered by snatchers and traffic.

Play out in the fields
rich with daisies and daffodils.
Scale over walls to orchards
their branches bowed low 
with ripe rosy apples,

maimed by migration
it succumbs to stillness and silence.
Neighbours reach out.
Sheepdogs wait.
Footballs deflate.

                                                              
Live Bulbs

After red and yellow weather alerts
when floods and storms subside.
Broken tree twigs around  you
garden soil stripped aside.

Your emerald shoots  
remain sturdy and serene.
With enough resilience, robustness
to turn a blue moon green.

Live Bulbs and other poems are © Katherine Noone

Katherine Noone’s first poetry collection Keeping Watch was published by Lapwing Press (2017). Her poems have appeared in Orbis, Crannog, Boyne Berries, Linnets Wings, Her Heart Anthology, Skylight 47, Proost Poetry, Vallum digital edition, A New Ulster and Ropes Journal. 

Shortlisted Vallum Poetry Award (Montreal) 2012. Poem for Patience 2015, 2016 and 2017l.