(t41)

afternoon screech
four and twenty blackbirds
atop two trees

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 10th January 2004

Publication

2004 Blackbird (USA)

Turdus Merula

TURDUS MERULA

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in summer drone -
it's a pie!
Four and twenty blackbirds baked out of the pit
breathing traces of the mist.
The ring ouzel echoes the flitterchack;
St. Kevin stretches his songs recalling fledgling dreams.
Someone once upon the saint's hand laid its eggs
and twenty blackbirds baked in men's minds.
The warmth of the ouzel cock is the black of my dream:
in the garden eastward of the ring ouzel cock
the ground holds roots of the herb, Belladonna,
where among brown leaves, the blackbird rustles for insects.
I see his crocus-coloured beak flashing through the fog;
blackbird sings before he smiles,
his mate cries before Candlemas.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Gee Cross, 16th January, 2003

Publications

2003 Blackbird (USA)
2004 Worm (Internet)

Eating Crow

EATING CROW

first catch your crow
pickled salt flung from a
size nine catapult

pick, gut and clean
decapitation is optional

baste with fresh butter
and crumbs from a loaf
of wholemeal bread

roast on a anthracite fire
but only in November

when cooked
serve on a bed
of aubergines and salad

eat your lover's crow
until the earth moves

if she does not come
throw the roasted bird
to the dogs

the cat will lick butter

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Gee Cross, 5th February 2000

Publications

2000 Worm (Internet)
2003 Blackbird (USA)

(m12)

drinking tea in bed
we watch blackbirds in the field
catching early worms

© Gerald England

Composed: Gwernaffield, 28th August 1998

Publications

2000 Sparrow (Croatia)
2003 Blackbird (USA)

*****
Pijuci caj u krevetu
Motrimo kosove u vrtu
Love prve crve

Gerald England

Translated into Croatian

Publication

2000 Sparrow (Croatia)

[11a]

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 1st May 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1982 Interstate (USA)
1993 Apostrophe (UK)
2003 Blackbird (USA)