We drove up to Manchester to see the family last weekend
and, even though the doctors have said that Mr A is well enough to drive, I’m
still doing half of all our journeys so I don’t lose my nerve again. [What a
wuss I am!]
Mr A’s half of the journey took in a bleak stretch of the M6,
so I grabbed my pencil and notebook and wrote this:
The trees beside the motorway
Cling to man-made banks,
Drop carbon-coated leaves
That crumple beneath wheels
Revealing fields
of apathetic animals,
Stubbled crops
And barns that at a glance
Could be our local B&Q warehouse.
On Sunday morning we walked on Manchester’s lovely Heaton
Park and saw these amazing Beech trees... a world away from those weedy M6
trees.
It's true, some of those trees on motorways look so forlorn and lost.
ReplyDeleteHi Rosalind, you are so clever knocking out a poem in the car, I love your descritions. I would like to walk through that forest it seems so peaceful. You're not a wuss, I gave up driving because I hated it,I didn't learn until my forties and just felt too nervous. (and I can't park). And yes my poem is all true!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! Love the picture and the poem :)
ReplyDelete'Apathetic animals'. Love this! They always looked so listless from the motorway, don't they?
ReplyDeleteWonderful tree poem, so much better than the one we all had to memorize in school: "I think that I will never see a poem lovely as a tree."
ReplyDeleteThat last picture is kind of spooky! Not sure I'd want to go wandering in that forest.
A very thoughtful post and, a lovely poem.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great poem - inspired!
ReplyDeleteI love trees. They are so quietly strong and beautiful. And so various - from apple blossoms to pine cones to flaming fall maple leaves, rough-ridged bark to papery white birch bark, towering redwoods to little japanese maples - gorgeous all :)
A good use of travelling time, and a lovely poem produced.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very prolific poem. The photo offers a serene contrast. I like all the reds and greens.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Rosalind.
xoRobyn
Hi Rosalind, I once wrote a poem while travelling from Kuantan to Melaka, (about a 5-hour drive) which also involved plenty of trees. It was basically a ride through the jungle on one small road carved through the middle of endless trees.
ReplyDeleteDuncan In Kuantan
Simply lovely! xx
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah, you've got to feel sorry for those weedy motorway trees, haven't you.
ReplyDeleteHi Cassam, the trees in the photo were along the main path in Heaton Park. They were so majestic! Thanks for saying I’m not a wuss but I kind of feel like one nevertheless… and I’m so glad your poem was true!
Thanks Jemi.
Hi Talli, yes, it’s enough to turn us all vegetarian.
Hi Karen, the trees weren’t spooky at all. They were lovely.
Thanks, As We Speak.
Hi Susanna, I love trees too but we don’t have the same varieties in the UK, especially not the redwoods.
Hi Annalisa, I do get easily bored as a passenger in a car and writing poems is an excellent way to pass the time.
Hi Robyn, thanks. I was hoping it showed a contrast.
Hi Duncan, your tree-lined walk would have been so very different to mine. For two Leicester folk we live in such different worlds!
Thanks Pauline.
That's a gorgeous photograph ... and an equally beautiful poem! I used to write poems when I had a husband, and he did the driving. It's good that you can still both share with this. I wish both of you well!
ReplyDeleteAnn Best, Memoir Author of In the Mirror & Imprisoned
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ReplyDeleteI couldn't write while travelling, but I do a lot of thinking and it's all there in my head ready to get down on paper. Lovely poem and beautiful photo. I love the colour of the leaves against the grey tree trunks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely poem filled with rich textures! I can't believe you wrote this in the car! You never miss a beat! Julie
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful poem - and a gorgeous photo. I love Heaton Park and am lucky enough to live fairly close. You could have done a detour and popped in for a cup of tea. :)
ReplyDeleteI love taking drives and observing the scenery. Those beech trees are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWow...wow about your words AND the photo!
ReplyDeleteThose Beech tress do look rather beautiful.
ReplyDeleteNice looking trees for sure :)
ReplyDelete