Mark Goodwin - A Worth

December a Chat      sworth’s frost
is private      keep(s)      out we      sneak

through a weak      ness cross      an e
state wall go      through a bro      ken

down gap where      badg      ers pass
and some      people tresp      ass

we enter slants      of late light man
gling in red bracken      sun’s win

ter membranes pla(y)      ting mass
ive fat oaks      golden & ground      glist

ening pale pink where f      rost uttered
water to delicate      solid we      climb

an oak-peopled hillside through nar
ratives escaped from dark      German

ic woods but lit      by late beyond-noon
light in an En      gland dreamt a little

stream’s sounds do      not sing but
stretch      space to a sm      ear of sil

ence we      as our boots are g      ripped-sc
ratched by bracken can’t      hear here or

there      but at least we      just      feel an

edge of silence sli      cing fairy      tales as
hun      ched oaks reach      to      wards our

shapes by being      totally still we      re
lish our in      tru      sion through our minds

and a painting      our brains do      to ground
to make      land      scape’s e      scapes

*

we leave      a wide Der
went to flow a      way

from us qui      etly
through      dark we

gently climb park
land towards Eden

sor’s spire Lin      dup
Low is allowed to a

public crossed by
an un      fenced B6012

and      in a dark this r
oad rivers headlight

-noise we know      we
will find diffi      cult to

cross Chats      worth
Ho      use is lit

cool blue like      a
digital      copy of its day

time self on      an
horizon a      stag silhou

ette turns      his
head moment      arily

entang      ling his antlers
with bran      ches printed

clear      & black against
sky sun      has just left