Lydia Fulleylove lives on the Isle of Wight where her love of sea and landscape has provided a rich creative resource and inspiration for the combined arts projects she leads, including Estuary, Riverlines and Wild Places. Lydia’s first collection, Notes on Sea and Land was published by HappenStance Press in 2011. Her poem ‘Night Drive’ was shortlisted for the Forward Best Single Poem Prize in 2011. Her second collection Estuary, in collaboration with artist Colin Riches, was published by Two Ravens Press in 2014. Her writing has been included in a range of magazines and publications including Chalk Poets, (2016), Salt on the Coals, (Winchester Poetry Prize 2016), Earthlinesand The Guardian. The second poem, ‘Limerstone Down’, is from Lydia’s new collection, Ampersand, published by Valley Press which is forthcoming in 2022.
,
Walking towards Dungewood Farm
You might almost think
that this land is as
it once was – these fields,
this path, flecked with vetch,
scabious, clovers,
goatsbeard, ragwort, while
either side grasses
long, gold, are swaying,
the blackthorn unhacked
the promise of sloes,
bramble a prayer
of pink blossom.
Over there, Dungewood
idles into earth,
windows welcoming
birds, the roof long flown,
the old farmers camped
in a caravan,
a few sheep asleep
on the rough slope
of Samba hill, geese
in the orchard’s keep,
everything flowering,
seeding as if
forever. From here
you can’t see the ranks
of cauliflowers,
potatoes, maize, wheat
in the red dust soil.
In this gentle wild
a green kindness
has settled:
restharrow
woundwort
self heal
Lydia Fulleylove
Ampersand
“Below is an extract from Ampersand, a sequence of poems and prose in response to my mother’s war diaries written while she was in the WAAF between 1942 and 1945. This collection will be published later in 2022 by Valley Press.” Lydia Fulleylove
17th January 1943 Radar Defence Training Camp, Yatesbury
We are living in a very bleak and lonely spot of the Wiltshire Downs, which in rainy weather is anything but desirable. But today, when everything is gold and blue – like a creation by Van Gogh – nothing could be lovelier. Flat supple rolls of hills, bare except for occasional knots of trees; & here & there, like small grass green bubbles, old barrows covering the regal dust of ancient kings. It is very lovely, but people still refuse to see it, & grumble at the grey white mud to which the camp is attached. But lord! How the grey white mud of the camp blinds our eyes & prevents us from seeing.
Limerstone Down
across the marsh
towards the down
the crack and snap
of frozen grass
the slant path up
the blackthorn coombe
in lichen-light
a kestrel starts
a raven krarks
scrub lit by frost
the dance of feet
on chalk, mud, flint
I look up – out
from self – from thought
Lydia Fulleylove
Lydia’s forthcoming collection, Ampersand, will be published later in 2022 by Valley Press.