1. Effervescent

   by Shaz Nicol

   Droplets from a branch in thaw

   Fall; to kiss the sweet blades of grass below

   Entwined in Night’s embrace still, the

   Rousing, weak winter Sun stretches;

   To touch the Land.

    

   Gentle as a mother waking a sleeping babe,

   A myriad of colours, whispers forth

   sleepily. The lark calls; clear and cool;

   Effervescent; waking the world.

    

   Nature bears testament to

   Reincarnation of the Dawn

    

   A flock of starlings swarm the Vault

   Pirouetting through the frigid air like ballerinas

   Graceful, fragile and fleeting;

   Hope rekindled, rejoicing;

   Celebrating.

    

   A new day begins!

2. Dough

   by Olga Henning

   My grandma was a solid wise woman. She moved slowly as if all the knowledge she had was a burden. She had the posture of the first Soviet Union pioneer. Tall, proud, always on the move. Rarely I would catch her leaning against the table quietly observing stillness. Only muffled sounds humming from outside. Her arms are resting crossed. Her skin is a labyrinth of the softest wrinkles sprinkled with flour. Slow particles still gel in the air. She just made bread dough. I wondered: Are you okay? A hidden smile lighted up in her eyes: Yes, honey. It’s rising.

3. Asian Abacus

   by Judy Barnes

   I stood transfixed as the stooped little Chinese man with the long, grey plait snaking around his black silk mandarin jacket totalled up his customers’ purchases. I discovered that in such skilled hands, his counting device, consisting of beads on metal rods, was far quicker than any modern calculator. His butterfly-like fingers flew over the frame of the abacus as the beads scuttled back and forth like somersaulting monkeys.

   Fresh vegetables with this side dish of Chinese theatre drew me back, week after week. Such ancient beginnings would never lose their fatal attraction for a star-struck traveller such as I.

4. Puddle

   by Debbie Rolls

   Heavy rain, heavy machinery, harrowing the sodden mud. A dint became a depression, water flowed and filled. Etched deeply by the path-edge it drank from a hidden spring. The sun returned but could not extinguish its thirst for life.

    

   It called to flora and fauna. Starlings sipped and blackbirds bathed. Later swallows swooped to muster mud for nests. Grass roots grasped new moisture. A sycamore seedling pushed upwards at the sodden edge. The sun hatched dormant daphnia eggs and energised algae. New food sources attracted frog spawn.

    

   Adults tutted at this disruption to their predictable path, children jumped with joy.

5. Birthed from Ash

   by Nichola Mundy

    A fire sweeps the Wide Brown Land

   One red-hot wall of war

   The crackle-hiss of flicking flames

   Within a mighty roar

    

   As creatures flee to safer ground

   The flora turns to cinder

   With people ordered to retreat

   Abandoned homes now tinder

    

   What was a robust, dusty land

   Now charred in black and white

   Her lungs inhaling acrid smoke

   Exhausted from the fight

    

   Such passionate destruction leaves

   Her clutching at her flesh

   Though phoenix-like, she’ll birth from ash

   Again, she’ll rise afresh

    

   Raw seedlings piercing hardened scars

   Start healing blackened burns

   A truce pervades the land and then

   The wildlife returns

6. A Lepidoptera in a Lavatory

   by Joe Reynolds

   A chrysalis, hanging on a filigree thread began to crack, a moth slowly freeing itself from the wreckage swung for a few seconds on its slender trapeze while its wings dried. It fluttered into the hot lamp making a dull, barely audible ping, as it ricocheted against the thin glass, releasing a few coloured scales into the conical beam. Paul watched the insect’s futile sorties attacking the light, the flakes pirouetting into its rays.

   He tugged the lamp cord, the room darkened but for a small shaft of light beckoning through a window where a spider had woven its web.

The group chose ‘Birthed from Ash’ as their favourite. Congratulations to Nichola Mundy!