Pregnancy is perpetual. There are countless births every millisecond. The Earth is always with child. Our ground is antenatal again. The unspoken garden draws breath to speak some more.
Imbolc
Imbolc was an important celebration in ancient times. It was originally a pagan festival in honour of the goddess Brigid. She is associated with fertility, wisdom, fire, light, crafting and poetry. Brigid was abducted by Christian myth-makers, rebranded as a saint, and given a feast day at the same time of year. Imbolc falls roughly midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and is celebrated usually on 1st or 2nd February. In Pagan tradition, because the day was deemed to begin and end at sunset, the celebrations and observances would sometimes start on 31st January. Imbolc commemorates the changing of the mythical goddess from the Crone to the Maiden and celebrates the first signs of spring, i.e. the first sprouting of leaves, the opening of crocus flowers etc.
The missive
The unspoken garden has whispered its rites since it was a wild meadow. This year is just the same. The light is growing, the days stretching, invention gestating. It is rebinding, and inspiring. The Bani-shed is a birthing place The inside outside A crafty womb Where I go out to enter in A den The purpose of which Brigid would ken
She was from the earth Ripped Roodly So they said Ha! She was not canonised But stayed in the sacred ground
The rhubarb rises
The crocuses come
The hazels bud The secret gardener is snipping stalking ivy And counting birds Before they breed Robins yell their territorial claims Wimp the lion is newly smug in this year's coat We'll soil his posterior The goddess will mane him
Meanwhile The Bani-shed twitches In the tepid sunlight Over Brigid Beneath
The unspoken bird count
Seen landed within one hour in the unspoken garden and reported to the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey 2022: 7 Goldfinch 4 Wood pigeon 3 Magpie 3 Blackbird 2 Blue tit 2 Coal tit 2 Sparrow 2 Dunnock 2 Collared dove 2 Chaffinch 1 Black-headed gull 1 Jackdaw 1 Robin 1 Ringed-necked parakeet The latter is the first time we have included that species. So prevalent in London and other cities, it appears now to be probing into Preston.
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Produce
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