Poems

Charente remembers

 

In soft vanilla, melted morning dew,

Encouraged by a tender velvet blow,

Hydrangeas foam and froth in pastel cool

And hollyhocks stretch taut in rattling row.

 

A melon’s papier maché shell keeps safe

Within her orange flesh, eternal flame.

A yellow acrid mist of old betrayal

Excoriates with bitter barbed wire shame.

 

Electric swallows’ arcs shred ozone clear,

Green potagers ruled corrugated straight,

A broken family refused to hear,

While soaring buzzards’ orange eyes predate.

 

Three Messieurs’ spades with rusty blades sharp tipped

Their filigree Mesdames sit steely lipped.

 

This sonnet was written in 2010, inspired by the Charente region of France, which is heralded as the birthplace of the Resistance movement.

In the glorious local villages and towns, there are frequent reminders of more difficult times past. As well as being one of the most beautiful parts of the country, the Charente is home to the delightful, orange-fleshed Charentais melon.