Blackthorn: before the becoming

All photos by Anna King

I invite you to join me as I begin a living poem, one that will shift and unfold with the seasons.

Before the Becoming opens with blackthorn, but as hawthorn, rose, and fern unfurl, new stanzas will be sketched and drawn.

It will grow slowly, shaped by the rhythm of place and time.

Like the plants, trees and seasons, my poem may change form. Some lines may fall away. Others may arrive unexpectedly.

This is not a finished poem. 

It is a living conversation with the changing seasons and the land I call home.

Before the Becoming

Before the Becoming,

fleeting blackthorn petals

whisper of what once was

and what is yet to unfold.

Before the Becoming

a thorn’s protective embrace

cradles

a feeling before form,

a knowing before name,

a land before abrupt change.

As this living poem continues to unfold, it will begin to move towards what I think of as The Land of No Name.

The Land of No Name is a terrain shaped by memory; carried through presence and seasonal change. It will emerge slowly, in fragments, images and textures, rather than as a finished form.

Keep an eye out on my social media for the next instalment of my ‘living’ poem.

Hawthorn Blossoms