Jayne Wilding
Jayne Wilding is one of the poets we chose to feature for National Poetry Day 2009.
Jayne Wilding was born in Stafford in 1962. She has been living in Scotland since 1969 apart from sojourns in Brazil and France. She now lives and writes in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. Jayne is a freelance writer and researcher and has been running writing workshops, particularly in areas relating to health and wellbeing, since 1998. She runs expressive creative writing groups for Maggie's Centre.
Jayne's poems have recently been published in 'A garland' (2008), 'Ten seasons' (2007) and 'Luckenbooth: An anthology of Edinburgh poetry' (2007). Her own collection, 'In the moon's pantry', was published by Diehard Publications in 2004.
These two untitled poems are taken from 'Sky blue notebook from the Pyrenees', published by Calder Wood Press and joint runner up in the 2009 Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. They draw on Jayne's experience of living in the foothills of the French Pyrenees for three years.
not one straight wall
in the place of two rivers
the angles of rooms
follow the geometry
of rocks and springs
walls curve and overhang
exhale limestone breath
what of this crookedness
things not being
quite straight or square?
the inconvenient angles
of an unexpected life
we learn to live with strange walls
find surprise cupboards
and cats on impossible roofs
your roof is of swallows
decorated with thunder
your walls are of lightning
and the hum of bees
your doors are of light or dark
on entering or leaving
your seat is of sunlight
seen though tears
four dream tigers arrive
to lift you up
there is a hush as their tails
swish the old oak floor