My first poem of the year was inspired by this painting by my mum Pat, thank you!.
A sense of woodland
Trudging through mud and leaf litter,
with his faithful companion Ned
a man surveys the landscape,
testing his path with a stick
from the same birch wood.
At the gate the dog pauses,
paw suspended, alert, ears wide,
and the pungent stench of vixen,
barely perceptible to human senses,
overwhelms its olfactory nerve.
A gleam of solstice light falls
on a startle of rabbit, a clear acre distant.
The man fumbles for his pipe and baccy,
scrapes squelchy leaves from his soles.
Ned flops with a disappointed grunt,
a screech of jays laugh from naked branches.
Then once more the silence is palpable.
What’s inspiring you right now?
Lucid Gypsy 
I had to shiver a bit, but you took me right there, Gilly. 🙂 🙂 Love the ‘rabbit sentence’, and what a lovely painting! That could so easily be you, tramping in the woods. My thoughts are all a bit of a muddle, but evening light on salt marshes was my inspiration this week. Have a wonderful weekend, darlin!
I am so lacking in inspiration right now Gilly, just taking it a day at a time, this gloomy grey weather doesn’t help my mood, but I have loads of books to read so happy enough to stay indoors! Lovely painting and the poem suits it well. Hope you have some sun up your way!
The beauty of winter. Lovely painting and poem, Gilly. I’m feeling a bit uninspired in some departments but know something will jump out at me very soon. I hope.
Beautiful, Gilly. Great choice of words. And I can hear the sounds clearly.
Your mom’s very gifted as well. I love the painting.
I love the painting – you come from a line of creative people? What a wonderful atmosphere you create – the leisurely countryman out in his landscape with dog. “Startle of rabbits” is a particularly apt phrase, as is “ears wide”. But it’s the whole lot that works so beautifully.
The poem reminds me yet again of the pleasures of ekphrasis and I love “first poem of the year” with its promise of lots more.
Beautiful poem to go with your Mothers painting, Gilly. It’s a lovely painting. It looks like it’s a watercolor. The shades are soft and muted. It’s very inspiring for a short story too.
I’m inspired to get healthy and fit right now. I don’t think I’d find that to be useful for inspiring writing. Too much is said already about diet and health. Best for me to write about happy things in life: like music, gardening and love.
Issy 😎