aros 31 - final one for January

Forty or more (I started in December)

dilutions of daily observations,

of attempted tight writ lines.

A modicum of success expressed

in an invitation from the Poetry Circle,

and a re-tuning of self.

Thank you for the opportunity.

aros 30 - Effie

Seventy percent grey

(ninety when wet)

it was the heartbreaking quality

of the near white markings

which spoke to me.

aros 29 - Garrick's Lawn

A Thames-side row of gulls
like infants unsure of the purpose
or acceptable behaviour
of a first time theatre trip.
Front seats, no role model,
so each checks out the other,
snacking the while.

aros 28 - daily walk for morning paper

Light in the sky this morning
although while glorying in the pink and gold promise
above the still-indigo Cleveland hills,
I mourned the loss of darkness' secrecy.

aros 27 - all relative

The heat kicks in as I reach the gym car park;
encouraging me to stay in the car,
to turn round and go home.
Conscience
(and the amount of me overhanging my jeans)
stops me.
Afterwards, on the way home
I have to turn the heat down.

aros 26

Sky from drab to drama,

rain arriving from the blue black north

with just a touch of burnt sienna.

South west sun still shining,

Bran-flaking last year’s still-crisp leaves

While seagulls appear and disappear,

testing peripheral vision,

before back again to drab.

aros 25 - friendly support

I'm a stay at home sort of person but on Sunday the friendliness of several strangers, with whom I shared an interest in place, made me feel I should get out more. 
Today an email from a friend who I had assumed had decided to relegate me to the back burner of what must be her pretty impressive group of like-minded friends.   Instead she confessed that she has become shamefacedly stay-at-home, and looks to me, as 'one of the movers and shakers', to perhaps rescue her.   We all have things to offer, we just need to believe it.

aros 24 - In no man’s land

Solitary dog walker

espied from the motorway:

escaped from domesticity

or seeking a peace

from the exclamation

of his silhouette?

[and having written a poem about dog walkers
why does Google feel obliged to spoil the mood
by offering solutions for pet odour
and urine stain removal?]

aros 23 - Warley

Winter bare cemetery

bones of ancestors beneath my feet.

I imagine holding their skulls,

wonder what I might learn,

wonder how deep the graves

to hold so many coffins,

wonder how hard the rock,

on the edge of a Calderdale hill,

wide wide views beyond.

aros 22 - it's a grey day

overnight cloud
       means no clear sky
          means no frost
            means no moon
               means no magic on my walk to buy a morning paper

aros 21 - disappointment

Although one might complain about the waste of money, waste of time, it is the wasteful expenditure of dreams that hurts most.

aros 20 - 'Writers' Retreat'

Seven days, three experts, three hours writing per day,
drink included and early nights recommended
- all for two and a half grand.
Can't be aimed at  proper writers can it?

aros 19 - at the gym

‘Mrs Paint Head’ was on the treadmill talking to her shorter plumper friend when I arrived.    
An hour later she was still there, and still talking.
On such slender evidence I decide that I dislike her.

aros 18

Basket of stones

collected to remind me.

Dusty

heavy

as the occasions I have forgot.

aros 17 – approaching Ferrybridge

Tight framed by bridge and windscreen

     between ochre corrugations,
         jaundiced grass
    beyond acid reflux,
         salt bleached road

   pale towers' cooling curves,
        steam drifted shadow

The whole windswept of detail:  
    computer simulation graphic.

aros 16

Yet another child
chides me for my poor hostessing.
The blinkered selfishness of solitude
works both ways.

aros 15

Astra Used Books:
blue corrugated metal,
high-ceilinged and rattling,
Confirms other-worldly alien of its name.

aros 14 - to Shrewsbury

Packing for four days away:
one spare pair of knickers
choice of two novels to read
three notebooks, three pencils
in three different places.
Just in case.

aros 13

Helicopter hovering stationary above the Tees.

seagull screams from the roof, a blue-lit siren,

as rare sunshine adds promise to the day.

All three elements combined remind me

of a long ago suicide.

aros 12 - Connie

Will her childhood
be forever reconstituted
by the cawing of the rooks
in Dallinghoo?