Guest Poem by Chrissie Gittins

CHRISSIE GITTINS’ poetry collections are Armature (Arc), I’ll Dress One Night As You (Salt) and Sharp Hills (Indigo Dreams). She appeared on BBC Countryfile with her fifth children’s collection, Adder Bluebell, Lobster (Otter-Barry Books). She has received Arts Council and Author’s Foundation awards and features on the Poetry Archive. Her recent poems are published/forthcoming in  A Poet For Every Day Of The Year (Macmillan), Empty Nest (Picador), Night Feeds and Morning Songs (Trapeze), Women on Nature (Unbound) and Wonder (Natural History Museum/Macmillan).

Live Like A Winter Flowering Cherry

In the summer I’m unremarkable,
biding my time,
satisfied to let peonies and poppies take centre stage.
In autumn I begin to come into my own –
layering your lawn with
a daily tapestry of rust, orange, yellow.
When you’ve done clearing
and leaves lie only on your beds
to mulch against the cold
blossom spreads across my branches –
a filigree of black and pink
etched on chilly skies.
In the absence of snow,
my petals fall in flurries
covering your garden
in fragile flakes –
a scattering of light
glowing through the shortest days.