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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing June 2023
The desire of nature, poems by Greta Sykes.
The desire of nature
Daydreaming
I listen to the wood pigeon
Cooing from the lime tree,
covered in pale spring green.
Wild garlic’s white flowers
Along the path,
Forsythia yellow shines,
Luscious tulips in mauve and pink
Crowd an earthenware pot.
The desire of nature
To live and create
Shakes me up
Intensely.
The sacred marriage
The old buried me
Beneath layers and layers,
Surfaced again
In the park at night,
Where the silent lake shone,
Late summer Rubeckia, Echinacea,
Scented the air
With magic.
I could feel you again
Who has now passed away,
Desiring me breathlessly,
With ardent kisses
And a body that coiled
Like a dancer
In desire,
when we created
The original sacred marriage
Again and again.
In the boat
In front of me
A girl with a soft brown face
And chubby arms.
Her thick brown hair
Curls over her back,
Her fringe a cheeky
Strip of brown colour
Above her brows.
As the rocking boat
Glides and shivers
Like an erotic encounter
Everyone smiles
At the feel of pleasure.
The sea, though, is inky black
Like my fountain pen,
When I was fifteen.
© Greta Sykes
Poet, writer and artist Greta Sykes has published her work in many anthologies. She is a member of London Voices Poetry Group and also produces art work for them. Her new volume of poetry called ‘The Shipping News and Other Poems’ came out in August 2016. The German translation of her book ‘Under charred skies’ has now been published in Germany under the title ‘Unter verbranntem Himmel’ by Eulenspiegel Verlag. She is the chair of the Socialist History Society and has organised joint poetry events for them at the Poetry Café. She is a trained child psychologist and has taught at the Institute of Education, London University, where she is now an associate researcher. Her particular focus is now on women’s emancipation and antiquity. https://www.gretasykes.com/